IoT Device Lifecycle – A Generic Model and a Use Case for Cellular Mobile Networks

We have reached the point with Internet of Things (IoT) end-devices, when procedures of dismantling have to be discussed and put into practice. The first machine-to-machine (M2M) devices were those sensors and actuators that have been exchanging information over the Internet for over 10 years. The early M2M devices are now reaching their end of life, and we start experiencing the first challenges regarding their final termination. In the meantime, the IoT phenomena industrialized data collection, processing and presentation. The number of IoT devices keeps increasing, and their communication capabilities keep widening from year to year. Still, their lifecycle is neither defined nor managed well; and this is partially the reason why the number of abandoned zombie devices keeps increasing. Besides taking care of their bitter end, the beginning and middle of life phases have stages that needs attention – including the management of their deployment, configuration, and mobility, among other issues. The current paper introduces a generic IoT device lifecycle model, first of its kind. Furthermore, the paper defines ultrashort, short, medium and long term changes, depending on how long the given configuration (in space, in environment, in hardware or software setup) lasts. It is sensible to track these stages for both semi-static and dynamic operating scenarios in order to keep the overall status of the system of systems in a healthy state. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the model, we describe a typical device lifecycle scenario for data and device security through a real-life, cellular mobile networking example.