Role models and lifecycles in IoT and their impact on the W3C WoT thing description

Abstract

The W3C Web of Things (WoT) is introduced as a larger context of the Internet of Things (IoT). It provides standards for communication and interaction with Things in the IoT in order to address IoT cross-domain and cross-platform interoperability problems and reduce its fragmentation. WoT uses a formal interface description called Thing Description (TD) which describes the offerings of Things to allow the interaction in between Things. Although Things undergo changes with regard to their physical and/or software components and specifications during their lifetime, the WoT TD is currently inteded to be of a static nature. This remains contradictory with the dynamic evolution of Things along their lifecycle. This work researches the lifecycle aspect for Things in the IoT and the different stakeholders influencing Things and respectively their TD. These two concepts were combined to develop a versioning mechanism for a TD through the lifecycle of a Thing.