The Software of the Internet of Things

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The Software of
the Internet of Things

by Geoff Keston

Docid: 00021026

Publication Date: 2203

Report Type: TUTORIAL

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A term coined by technologist Kevin Ashton in 1999, the Internet of
Things (IoT) refers to efforts designed to extend the dominion of the
Internet from cyber space to the physical world, creating a network of
intelligent devices that form the mechanical equivalent of the body’s
central nervous system. The purpose is twofold: first, to gather
information about physical processes in order to improve them; and second,
to exercise real-time control over physical processes in order to affect
greater efficiency and effectiveness. As an example, the US and other
nations are presently engaged in building so-called smart grids, electric
grids that incorporate IoT devices to record and report information
relative to electric utilization – information that will enable electric
providers (and consumers) to regulate and conserve costly energy
resources. While IoT devices play a key role in the Internet of Things,
application developers are expanding their focus beyond the hardware to
the software that utilizes and manages them. In fact, IoT software has
emerged as a major information technology market category.

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Executive Summary

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A term coined by technologist Kevin Ashton in 1999,¹ the
“Internet of Things” (IoT) refers to efforts designed to extend the
dominion of the Internet from cyber space to the physical world, creating
a network of intelligent devices that form the mechanical equivalent of
the body’s central nervous system. The purpose is twofold:

To gather information about physical processes in order to improve
them; and
To exercise real-time control over physical processes in order to
affect greater efficiency and effectiveness.

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The Internet of Things Market
Trends

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As an example, the US and other nations are presently engaged in building
so-called “smart grids,” electric grids that incorporate IoT devices to
record and report information relative to electric utilization –
information that will enable electric providers (and consumers) to
regulate and conserve costly energy resources.

While the potential impact of the Internet of Things is often diminished
by discussion of trivial applications – like smart refrigerators that
inventory their contents and automatically place orders for depleted food
stuffs – the IoT promises to enhance:

Manufacturing, through the introduction of smart production equipment;
Transportation, through self-driving vehicles and intelligent traffic
control;
Urban Infrastructure, through community-wide deployment of smart
sensors;
Healthcare, through “body area networks” and assistive systems; and
Emergency Response, through IP-enabled surveillance systems.

Figure 1. Conceptual Representation of the Internet of Things

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

While IoT devices play a key role in the Internet of Things, application
developers are expanding their focus beyond the hardware to the software
that utilizes and manages them. In fact, IoT software has emerged as a
major information technology market category.

IoT Software Market

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global IoT software market,
valued at $309 billion as recently as 2020, will grow to $1.8 billion by
the end of 2028, a remarkable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.4
percent.²

As The Economist observed in 2020, “As computers and connectivity become
cheaper, it makes senses to bake them into more and more things that are
not, in themselves, computers – from [diapers] and coffee machine to cows
and factory robots.”³

The major tech firms concur, with significant commitments from:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AT&T
Cisco
IBM
Microsoft
Oracle
SAP
Siemens
among others⁴

As an example, Amazon Web Services offers AWS IoT analytics, a
fully-managed cloud service that enables users to analyze massive amounts
of IoT data. As the vendor explains, “AWS IoT Analytics automates each of
the difficult steps that are required to analyze data from IoT devices.
AWS IoT Analytics ﬁlters, transforms, and enriches IoT data before storing
it in a time-series data store for analysis. You can setup the service to
collect only the data you need from your devices, apply mathematical
transforms to process the data, and enrich the data with device-speciﬁc
metadata such as device type and location before storing the processed
data. Then, you can analyze your data by running ad hoc or scheduled
queries using the built-in SQL query engine, or perform more complex
analytics and machine learning inference.”⁵

IoT Software Engineering

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The development, maintenance, and testing of IoT software has been dubbed
“IoT software engineering,” which, according to analyst Hardik Shah.
“refers to the systematic development of IoT infrastucture using a blend
of software and hardware solutions.

“IoT software engineering deals with data collected via sensors, and
processes it to make sense for real-world applications with [an intuitive
user interface] and visual representation.”⁶

The key technologies supporting IoT software engineering are:

IoT Development Platforms, like those offered by Amazon Web
Services, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Watson
IoT Operating Systems, like Raspbian and open source contender
Arm Mbed OS
IoT Programming Languages, like C and C++, Java, and Python⁷

Python Preferred

In the programming language category, Python is a particularly popular
choice, not only because Python generally ranks high on the list of
preferred languages among programmers, but as Mindfire Solutions contends,
“Python is the developers’ favorite programming language in regards to the
development of IoT applications.

“Python has a clean syntax.
“The developers can easily implement the code as soon as it is
written. It also enables quick prototyping.
“Integrating other languages is possible with Python. Python app
developers can effortlessly input their code in other programming
languages, such as C++, Java, etc. This enables developers to write
programs with fewer lines.”⁸

IoT Software Trends

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AI-Infused IoT Software

As with many technologies, advances in artificial intelligence are
spurring progress in IoT software.

Analyst Sarah Hunt reports that “[advances] in artificial intelligence
(AI) and machine learning (ML) allow IoT software developers to include
tools that help organizations automate repetitive tasks and simplify
workflows related to IoT device management. For example, machine learning
algorithms can link sensors with machines, enabling teams to monitor
qualities like equipment condition autonomously, leading to better
predictive maintenance approaches and early detection of issues that could
affect production or supply chain logistics.”⁹

IOT as a Service

To facilitate IoT deployments, providers like Qualcomm and Microsoft, are
adopting the popular and productive “as a Service” model.¹⁰

Qualcomm IoT as a Service (IoTaaS) provides clients with comprehensive
IoT hardware and IoT software support, supplying enterprises and
municipalities with “integrated, plug-and-play” deployments. More than a
generic solution, Qualcomm offers options for specific verticals:

Agriculture
Construction
Education
Fleet Management
Healthcare
Logistics
Smart Campus
Smart Cities and Spaces
Smart Malls/Retail
Transportation

Microsoft Azure IoT Central is an IoT Application Platform as a Service
(aPaaS) that reduces the burden and cost of developing, managing, and
maintaining enterprise-grade IoT solutions. Clients can start with a
generic application template or select a specific sector template:

Energy
Government
Healthcare
Retail

5G Accelerator

According to a “Global IoT Executive Survey,” conducted by Business
Insider Intelligence, many of those polled believe that 5G networks, with
their lightning speed, will have a transformative influence on IoT
performance, and thus capabilities.¹¹

The concomitant increase in IoT deployments will accelerate initiatives
aimed at:

Improving IoT Software Engineering tools and techniques
Adding IoT software engineers and IoT quality assurance analysts to
enterprise Software Development teams
Establishing acceptable standards for IoT software and IoT Software
Engineering, probably based on ISO/IEC 30141:2018: Internet of Things
(IoT) – Reference Architecture

Recommendations

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Concentrate on Cybersecurity

It took nearly a decade for Internet service providers to erect adequate
defenses around servers, storage systems, PCs, and other original Internet
infrastructure. With the emergence of advanced persistent threats, the
Internet security establishment is again losing ground, especially as
hacker exploits are supplemented by state-sponsored attacks. Any expansion
of the Internet ecosystem, like the Internet of Things, is bound to create
new classes of zero-day vulnerabilities.

As evidence, several examples of significant IoT security breaches are
highlighted in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Prominent IoT Security Breaches

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

The reliance of the Internet of Things on software creates numerous
security issues. It is vulnerable to the full range of familiar threats
faced by any connected device, from malware to targeted attacks. And some
evidence suggests that these devices are not being protected as well as
are traditional computers.

In addition to protecting IoT devices with network-based measures like
access controls and firewalls, the software used by and connected to devices
needs to be written securely. There may also be software-based security
mechanisms that help protect devices. One technology that has been discussed
is blockchain, but its uses for Internet of Things security remain small
scale and, according to some observers, are likely to remain limited.¹²

Problems with Internet of Things security may lie in device source code,
or they may extend much more broadly into the overall device supply chain
within which devices operate.¹³ Security concerns are thus far
reaching, spanning from the smallest levels to the largest.

A sense of the scope of problems faced by the Internet of Things can be
gathered from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), which
identifies the following “Attack Surface Areas:”

“Ecosystem Access Control
“Device Memory
“Device Physical Interfaces
“Device Web Interface
“Device Firmware
“Device Network Services
“Administrative Interface
“Local Data Storage
“Cloud Web Interface
“Third-party Backend APIs
“Update Mechanism
“Mobile Application
“Vendor Backend APIs
“Ecosystem Communication
“Network Traffic
“Authentication/Authorization
“Privacy
“Hardware (Sensors)”¹⁴

Prepare for IoT

The Internet of Things is enjoying enormous growth, just as the Internet
did in the late 1990s. Enterprise officials should explore the potential
of IoT devices and IoT software to improve enterprise business processes
and/or develop or enhance enterprise products and services.

The first step is to establish an IoT Business Development Team, composed
of representatives from Information Technology, Security, Finance,
Production, Transportation, Sales & Marketing, Legal, and Human
Resources.

The Team would be responsible for:

Identifying IoT opportunities
Creating comprehensive business plans to exploit such opportunities
Acquiring the necessary IoT talent, from IoT hardware specialists to
IoT software engineers

Like the Internet, the Cloud, and now edge computing and IoT, the only
real risk is arriving too late at the IoT party.

References

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¹ “2013: The Year of the Internet of Things.” MIT
Technology Review. January 4, 2013.

² Sarah Hunt. “The Internet of Things (IoT) Software Market.”
Datamation. November 20, 2021.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ “Overview of Amazon Web Services.” Amazon Web Services.
August 5, 2021:35.

⁶ Hardik Shah. “IoT Software Engineering: The New Wave of IoT Development.” TechTarget. October 25, 2021.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Mindfire Solutions. “Why Is Python Becoming Indispensable in IoT Industry?”
Medium.com. February 15, 2022.

⁹ Sarah Hunt. “Internet of Things (IoT) Software Trends.”
Datamation. November 20, 2021.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Andrew Meola. “A Look at Examples of IoT Devices and
Their Business Applications in 2020.” Business Insider.
December 18, 2019.

¹² “The Security and Privacy Issues That Come with the
Internet of Things.” Business Insider. February 3, 2022.

¹³ Bob Violino. “7 Steps to Enhance IoT Security.” Network
World. June 24,
2019.

¹⁴ “IoT Attack Surface Areas Project.” OWASP Internet of
Things Project.

Web Links

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Amazon Web Services: http://aws.amazon.com/
AT&T: https://www.att.com/
Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/
IBM: http://www.ibm.com/
Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/
Oracle: https://www.oracle.com/
Qualcomm: http://www.qualcomm.com/
SAP: http://www.sap.com/
Siemens: https://www.siemens.com/

About the Author

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Geoff Keston is a project manager for a leading
technology consulting and services company. In this role, he has been
responsible for the successful completion of enterprise software
implementations, network upgrades, and telephony implementations for major
retailers, financial firms, and public institutions. Geoff also writes
extensively on issues relating to software, data networking, and
e-commerce, as well as on the cultural, economic, and political issues
raised by technology. He is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and a
Certified Novell Administrator.

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