An Open Source Real-Time Data Portal

In the coming years there will be a rapid growth in the generation and processing of data from multiple sources. These sources, sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), will consist of devices such as sensors, monitors and smartphones. This trend has been made possible because of (a) the adoption of IPv6 (allowing for such devices to be addressable), (b) enhancements in cellular technologies (in particular 5G) to better support short infrequent bursts of data transmissions and (c) the introduction of smartphones with a wide range of sensors and (d) the availability of easily deployed, low cost, low energy sensors (helped by the introduction of Raspberry Pi and Arduino processors). The real-time data generated by these devices can serve be used in several ways including being mined for important information and correlations, as well as use in web and mobile applications. This data, however, is often either proprietary or in a format that is not easily usable by real time applications. Furthermore, if an application developer needs to integrate (mash-up) data from multiple sources it is quite burdensome to develop interfaces. The present platforms for open data repositories are designed for static non real-time data. We propose a design and provide specifications for a platform that will accept real-time open data from multiple sources in multiple formats and make the data accessible in a standard format at user specified frequencies. The data is held for a finite period of time and digests made so that developers can also make use of historical data. Journal of ICT, Vol. 2, 289–302. doi: 10.13052/jicts2245-800X.235 c © 2015 River Publishers. All rights reserved. 290 S. Lutchman and P. Hosein