IoT architecture for adaptation to transient devices

Abstract

IoT environments are continuously changing. Changes may come from the service, connectivity, or physical layers of the IoT architecture. Therefore, to function appropriately, the system needs to dynamically adapt to its environment. In previous work, we posited eight challenges to foster adaptation through all architecture layers of IoT systems. In this paper, we address the challenges to manage the inclusion of new devices and devices’ transient connection, by means of dynamic adaptations incorporated into our proposed software architecture for adaptive IoT systems. To manage dynamic adaptations, we extend the reference IoT architecture with our specialized components. In particular, we use (1) ontologies and instances to represent the domain knowledge; (2) a matching algorithm to pair services and IoT devices, taking into account their functional requirements, quality attributes and sensors properties; and (3) a match update algorithm used whenever sensors become (un)available. We evaluate the effectiveness of our solution with respect to the accuracy of matching services and IoT devices, and the response to environment changes.