Integrating metrological principles into the Internet of Things: a digital maturity model for sensor network metrology

Abstract The development and integration of metrological processes to address complex, large-scale systems of interconnected measuring instruments, i.e., sensor networks, has been a topic of increasing importance in the last decade. Initial developments in sensor network metrology include, e.g., metrological treatment of sensors with digital-only output, measurement uncertainty evaluation for time series data, and the digital representation of metrological information of such sensors. In principle, modern digital technologies allow for a fully automated operation of even rather complex sensor networks. However, the integration of metrological principles to provide confidence in the measurement results in such networks is still at its beginning. In this contribution we consider a recently published structured approach to assess digital maturity based on the level of machine-readability and machine-actionability. We apply this approach to sensor networks, define the different levels of digital maturity, and discuss potential steps for further evolving the integration of metrological principles for the Internet of Things (IoT).