Towards a Model and Graph Representation for Smart Homes in the IoT

Abstract

A key aspect of the emerging Internet of Things is resilience, as life- and mission-critical services are incorporated. In contrast to the current emphasis on IoT network protocols and services, in this paper we take steps towards analyzing resilience by focusing on a smaller subset of the smart city: smart-home network-infrastructure resilience. We present a model smart home that we believe will be typical in the near future, and examine its network structure and vulnerable technologies, links, and nodes quantified as betweenness centrality. We then propose two novel graph representations to capture the importance and interdependence of particular technologies, such as the 802.11 core, 802.15.4/ZigBee IoT smart devices, and LTE/4G/5G access links: the end-system technology graph and technology interdependence graph. A preliminary analysis indicates the importance of a biconnected 802.11s mesh core and diverse Internet access paths so that mission-critical devices and services remain operational.