Architecture for the Internet of Things: API

The architecture includes a secure API, a backbone and separate device networks with standard interface to the backbone. The API decouples innovation of services and service logic from protocols and network elements. It also enables service portability between systems, i.e. a service may be allocated to end-systems or servers, with possible relocation and replication throughout its lifecycle. Machine-to-machine services for Connected Objects (CO) could benefit the society in many areas, including environmental, health care, trade, transportation, alarms and surveillance. However, such development depends oil the availability of global interoperability and powerful communications features. There are urgent actions to be taken to pave the way for this development to take place. The pivotal point is service ubiquity which depends on interoperability not only for a standard QoS controlled IP bearer, but also for cross domain security, mobility, multicast, location, routing and management, including fair compensation for utility provisioning. The proposed architecture with its API not only includes these critical elements but also caters for multi-homing, mobile networks with dynamic membership and third party persistent storage based on indirection. The API supports end-to-end service control and offers capability features as a vehicle for service development and ubiquitous deployment. The architecture is more generic than traditional hierarchical sensor and actuator networks as it supports grids and autonomous neural type of networks.