SandBoxer: A Self-Contained Sensor Architecture for Sandboxing the Industrial Internet of Things

Abstract

The Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) has gained significant interest from both the research and industry communities. Such interest came with a vision towards enabling automation and intelligence for futuristic versions of our day to day devices. However, such a vision demands the need for accelerated research and development of IIoT systems, in which sensor integration, due to their diversity, impose a significant roadblock. Such roadblocks are embodied in both the cost and time to develop an IIoT platform, imposing limits on the innovation of sensor manufacturers, as a result of the demand to maintain interface compatibility for seamless integration and low development costs. In this paper, we propose an IIoT system architecture (SandBoxer) tailored for sensor integration, that utilizes a collaborative set of efforts from various technologies and research fields. The paper introduces the concept of "development-sandboxing" as a viable choice towards building the foundation for enabling true-plug-and-play IIoT. We start by outlining the key characteristics desired to create an architecture that catalyzes IIoT research and development. We then present our vision of the architecture through the use of a sensor-hosted EEPROM and scripting to "sandbox" the sensors, which in turn accelerates sensor integration for developers and creates a broader innovation path for sensor manufacturers. We also discuss multiple design alternative, challenges, and use cases in both the research and industry.