Remote management of intelligent devices: Using TR-069 protocol in IoT

The aggressive expansion of emerging smart devices connected to the Internet infrastructure is nowadays considered as one of the most challenging components of the Internet of Things (IoT) vision. As a particular segment of IoT, the smart home gateways, also named Machine-Type Communication Gateway (MTCG), become an important direction for industry including telecommunication operators. In most cases, the MTCG acts as a bridge between connected smart objects and the public network (Internet). As a consequence of the IoT domain expansion, the separate configuration of each individual Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device is not feasible anymore due to steadily growing numbers of M2M nodes. To perform this task, several novel technologies have recently been introduced. However, legacy protocols and mechanisms for remote network management still retain a certain application potential for IoT. Accordingly, we have investigated the well-known protocol TR-069 with a particular focus on its usability for MTCG. To this end, the software module (bundle) based on the TR-069 for remote configuration and management of MTCG, as well as for controlling the end smart devices, has been developed. We believe that our implementation (available as open source on GitHub) can serve as an important building block for efficient management of future IoT devices. Therefore, TR-069 protocol constitutes a proven and standardized technology and could be easily deployed by most of the network and service providers today.