The Core IoT Functional Stack- Layers

and Description
IoT Stacks
Core IoT Functional Stack

IoT Functional Stack

Layer 1: Things: Sensors Layer 2: Communications Layer 3: Applications and

and Actuators Layer Network Layer Analytics Layer
Core IoT Functional Stack

IoT Functional Stack

Layer 1: Things: Sensors Layer 2: Communications Layer 3: Applications and

and Actuators Layer Network Layer Analytics Layer
Layer 1: “Things” layer

Classification of
devices

Battery-powered Low or high

Simple or rich Object density
or power- Mobile or static reporting Reporting range
data per cell
connected frequency
Example of Sensor Applications
Based on Mobility and Throughput
Core IoT Functional Stack

IoT Functional Stack

Layer 1: Things: Sensors Layer 2: Communications Layer 3: Applications and

and Actuators Layer Network Layer Analytics Layer
Layer 2: Communications network layer

Gateways and backhaul Network transport IoT network management

Access network sublayer
network sublayer sublayer sublayer
• Last mile of the IoT • A common • For communication to be • Additional protocols
network is the access communication system successful, network and must be in place to allow
network. organizes multiple smart transport layer protocols the headend applications
• Typically made up of objects in a given area such as IP and UDP must to exchange data with
wired/wireless around a common be implemented to the sensors. Examples
technologies such as gateway. support the variety of include CoAP and MQTT.
802.11ah, 802.15.4g, • The gateway devices to connect and
and LoRa communicates directly media to use.
with the smart objects.
• The role of the gateway
is to forward the
collected information
through a longer-range
medium (called the
backhaul) to a headend
central station where the
information is processed.
Layer 2: Communications network layer

Gateways and backhaul Network transport IoT network management

Access network sublayer
network sublayer sublayer sublayer
• Last mile of the IoT • A common • For communication to be • Additional protocols
network is the access communication system successful, network and must be in place to allow
network. organizes multiple smart transport layer protocols the headend applications
• Typically made up of objects in a given area such as IP and UDP must to exchange data with
wired/wireless around a common be implemented to the sensors. Examples
technologies such as gateway. support the variety of include CoAP and MQTT.
802.11ah, 802.15.4g, • The gateway devices to connect and
and LoRa communicates directly media to use.
with the smart objects.
• The role of the gateway
is to forward the
collected information
through a longer-range
medium (called the
backhaul) to a headend
central station where the
information is processed.
Access network sublayer

• As IoT continues to grow exponentially, you will encounter a

wide variety of applications and special use cases.
• For each of them, an access technology will be required.
• IoT sometimes reuses existing access technologies whose
characteristics match more or less closely the IoT use case
requirements.
• Whereas some access technologies were developed specifically
for IoT use cases, others were not.
 Access network sublayer:
Access Technologies and
Distances
• One key parameter determining the choice of
access technology is the range between the
smart object and the information collector.
• Some access technologies you may encounter
in the IoT world and the expected
transmission distances are given in the figure:
Access network sublayer:
Access Technologies and
Distances
• Range estimates are grouped by category names that illustrate the
environment or the vertical where data collection over that range is
expected.

• Common groups are as follows:

1. PAN (personal area network): Scale of a few meters. This is the
personal space around a person. A common wireless technology
for this scale is Bluetooth.
2. HAN (home area network): Scale of a few tens of meters. At this
scale, common wireless technologies for IoT include ZigBee and
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
3. NAN (neighborhood area network): Scale of a few hundreds of
meters. The term NAN is often used to refer to a group of house
units from which data is collected.
Access network sublayer:
Access Technologies and
Distances

• Common groups Contd.:

4. FAN (field area network): Scale of several tens of meters to
several hundred meters. FAN typically refers to an outdoor
area larger than a single group of house units. The FAN is
often seen as “open space” (and therefore not secured and
not controlled). FAN and NAN may sometimes be used
interchangeably.
5. LAN (local area network): Scale of up to 100 m. This term is
very common in networking, and it is therefore also
commonly used in the IoT space when standard networking
technologies (such as Ethernet or IEEE 802.11) are used.
Other networking classifications, such as MAN
(metropolitan area network, with a range of up to a few
kilometers) and WAN (wide area network, with a range of
more than a few kilometers), are also commonly used.
Access network sublayer:
Access Technologies and
Distances

• Note: For all these places in the IoT

network, a “W” can be added to
specifically indicate wireless technologies
used in that space.

• Example: HomePlug is a wired technology

found in a HAN environment, but a HAN is
often referred to as a WHAN (wireless
home area network) when a wireless
technology, like ZigBee, is used in that
space.
Access network sublayer:
Factors determining selection
of Access Technologies

• Factor 1: Increasing the throughput and achievable

distance typically comes with an increase in power
consumption.

• Factor 2: Therefore, after determining the smart object

requirements (in terms of mobility and data transfer), a
second step is to determine the target quantity of
objects in a single collection cell, based on the
transmission range and throughput required. This
parameter in turn determines the size of the cell.

• Factor 3: It may be tempting to simply choose the

technology with the longest range and highest
throughput. However, the cost of the technology is a
third determining factor.
Wireless IoT Access Technologies Comparison

https://www.bluetooth.com/blog/wireless-connectivity-options-for-iot-applications-technology-comparison/
 • Point to Point: uncommon for IoT access.

• Star: Reduced-function devices (RFD) such as sensors send data to the

local host, also called a full-function device (FFD) but cannot talk to each
other.
Wireless IoT
Access • Mesh: You may have multiple FFDs in your home that can talk to each
other. They connect as a mesh.

Technologies
Connectivity
Structure
Note: This is just for your reference, Not all of these topologies may be relevant for IoT

https://www.dnsstuff.com/what-is-network-topology
Layer 2: Communications network layer

Gateways and backhaul Network transport IoT network management

Access network sublayer
network sublayer sublayer sublayer
• Last mile of the IoT • A common • For communication to be • Additional protocols
network is the access communication system successful, network and must be in place to allow
network. organizes multiple smart transport layer protocols the headend applications
• Typically made up of objects in a given area such as IP and UDP must to exchange data with
wired/wireless around a common be implemented to the sensors. Examples
technologies such as gateway. support the variety of include CoAP and MQTT.
802.11ah, 802.15.4g, • The gateway devices to connect and
and LoRa communicates directly media to use.
with the smart objects.
• The role of the gateway
is to forward the
collected information
through a longer-range
medium (called the
backhaul) to a headend
central station where the
information is processed.
Example of
IoT Network
Gateways and Backhaul Sublayer
• Data collected from a smart object may need to be forwarded to a central station where data is processed.

• As this station is often in a different location from the smart object, data directly received from the sensor through
an access technology needs to be forwarded to another medium (the backhaul) and transported to the central
station.

• The gateway is in charge of this inter-medium communication.

• Note: In most cases, the smart objects are static or mobile within a limited area. The gateway is often static.

• However, there are exceptions to this rule, e.g. in case of Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC). It can be
used for is used for backhaul communication, peer-to-peer, or mesh communication between vehicles
Layer 2: Communications network layer

Gateways and backhaul Network transport IoT network management

Access network sublayer
network sublayer sublayer sublayer
• Last mile of the IoT • A common • For communication to be • Additional protocols
network is the access communication system successful, network and must be in place to allow
network. organizes multiple smart transport layer protocols the headend applications
• Typically made up of objects in a given area such as IP and UDP must to exchange data with
wired/wireless around a common be implemented to the sensors. Examples
technologies such as gateway. support the variety of include CoAP and MQTT.
802.11ah, 802.15.4g, • The gateway devices to connect and
and LoRa communicates directly media to use.
with the smart objects.
• The role of the gateway
is to forward the
collected information
through a longer-range
medium (called the
backhaul) to a headend
central station where the
information is processed.
Network Transport Sublayer
• A typical IoT communication structure may involve peer-to-peer, point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, unicast and multicast
communications.
• In a multitenant environment (for example, electricity and gas consumption management), different systems may use the same
communication pathways.
• This communication occurs over multiple media (for example, power lines inside your house or a short-range wireless system like
indoor Wi-Fi and/or ZigBee), a longer-range wireless system to the gateway, and yet another wireless or wired medium for
backhaul transmission.
• To allow for such communication structure, a network protocol with specific characteristics needs to be implemented.
• The protocol needs to be open and standard-based to accommodate multiple industries and multiple media.
• Scalability (to accommodate thousands or millions of sensors in a single network) and security are also common requirements.
• IP is a protocol that matches all these requirements.
• Finally, the transport layer protocols built above IP (UDP and TCP) can easily be leveraged to decide whether the network should
control the data packet delivery (with TCP Transmission Control Protocol) or whether the control task should be left to the
application (UDP User Datagram Protocol).
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/differences-between-tcp-and-udp/
Layer 2: Communications network layer

Gateways and backhaul Network transport IoT network management

Access network sublayer
network sublayer sublayer sublayer
• Last mile of the IoT • A common • For communication to be • Additional protocols
network is the access communication system successful, network and must be in place to allow
network. organizes multiple smart transport layer protocols the headend applications
• Typically made up of objects in a given area such as IP and UDP must to exchange data with
wired/wireless around a common be implemented to the sensors. Examples
technologies such as gateway. support the variety of include CoAP and MQTT.
802.11ah, 802.15.4g, • The gateway devices to connect and
and LoRa communicates directly media to use.
with the smart objects.
• The role of the gateway
is to forward the
collected information
through a longer-range
medium (called the
backhaul) to a headend
central station where the
information is processed.
IoT Network Management Sublayer
• IP, TCP, and UDP bring connectivity to IoT networks.

• Upper-layer protocols need to take care of data transmission between the smart objects
and other systems.

• Multiple protocols have been leveraged or created to solve IoT data communication
problems.

• Some networks rely on a push model (that is, a sensor reports at a regular interval or
based on a local trigger), whereas others rely on a pull model (that is, an application
queries the sensor over the network), and multiple hybrid approaches are also possible.
Possible Protocols to use in Network
Management Sublayer: 1. HTTP
• HTTP: Useful since HTTP has a client and server component. The sensor could use the
client part to establish a connection to the IoT central application (the server), and then
data can be exchanged.
• Problems with HTTP: HTTP is something of a fat protocol and was not designed to
operate in constrained environments with low memory, low power, low bandwidth, and
a high rate of packet failure.
• Possible Solution: Use WebSocket. WebSocket is part of the HTML5 specification and
provides a simple bidirectional connection over a single connection. Some IoT solutions
use WebSocket to manage the connection between the smart object and an external
application. WebSocket is often combined with other protocols, such as MQTT to
handle the IoT-specific part of the communication.
Possible Protocols to use in Network
Management Sublayer: 2. CoAP
• Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP).
• CoAP uses some methods similar to those of HTTP (such as Get, Post, Put, and Delete)
but implements a shorter list, thus limiting the size of the header.
• CoAP also runs on UDP (whereas HTTP typically uses TCP).
• CoAP also adds a feature that is lacking in HTTP and very useful for IoT: observation.
• Observation allows the streaming of state changes as they occur, without requiring the
receiver to query for these changes.
Possible Protocols to use in Network
Management Sublayer: 3. MQTT
• Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT). MQTT runs over TCP.
• MQTT uses a broker-based architecture.
• The sensor can be set to be an MQTT publisher (publishes a piece of information), the
application that needs to receive the information can be set as the MQTT subscriber, and
any intermediary system can be set as a broker to relay the information between the
publisher and the subscriber(s).
• A consequence of the reliance on TCP is that an MQTT client typically holds a
connection open to the broker at all times.
• This may be a limiting factor in environments where loss is high or where computing
resources are limited.
How do you choose one network protocol over
the other?

Ans: You need to determine the requirements of your application protocol:

1. Relying on TCP implies maintaining sessions between endpoints. The advantage
of reliability comes with the cost of memory and processing resources consumed
for session awareness.
2. Relying on UDP delegates the control to the upper layers.
3. You also need to determine the requirements for QoS with different priority levels
between the various messages.
4. Finally, you need to evaluate the security of the IoT application protocol to
balance the level of security provided against the overhead required.
Core IoT Functional Stack

IoT Functional Stack

Layer 1: Things: Sensors Layer 2: Communications Layer 3: Applications and

and Actuators Layer Network Layer Analytics Layer
 At the upper layer, an application needs to
process the collected data not only to control
Layer 3: the smart objects when necessary but also to
make intelligent decision based on the
Application information collected and in turn, instruct the
and Analytics “things” or other systems to adapt to the
analyzed conditions and change their
Layer behaviors or parameters.
 Types of Applications
Analytics application

• This type of application collects data from multiple smart objects, processes the
collected data, and displays information resulting from the data that was processed.
• The important aspect is that the application processes the data to convey a view of the
network that cannot be obtained from solely looking at the information displayed by a
single smart object.

Control application

• This type of application controls the behavior of the smart object or the behavior of an
object related to the smart object.
• For example, a pressure-sensor based speed control of a pump.
Types of Analytics

Analytics is a general term that describes processing information to make sense of

collected data. One classification is:

• Data analytics: This type of analytics processes the data collected by smart objects
and combines it to provide an intelligent view related to the IoT system.

• Network analytics: Most IoT systems are built around smart objects connected to
the network. A loss or degradation in connectivity is likely to affect the efficiency of
the system.
References
• David Hanes, Gonzalo Salgueiro , Patrick Grossetete , Robert Barton,
Jerome Henry, IoT Fundamentals: Networking Technologies,
Protocols, and Use Cases for the Internet of Things, Cisco Press, 2017.

• Wireless IoT Access Technologies Comparison:

https://www.bluetooth.com/blog/wireless-connectivity-options-for-
iot-applications-technology-comparison/