Reference Architecture for the Internet of Things

Abstract:
The Internet of Things (IoT) spans a wide area of application areas. Despite the unique characteristics of each use case, typical IoT systems share common functionality. When designing a system architecture and selecting suitable technologies, common considerations and decisions need to be made. A comprehensive IoT reference architecture enables researchers, technology practitioners and business stakeholders to verify requirements, identify system scope, assess technologies and define implementation roadmaps. In this contribution, a reference architecture for the IoT is presented that is vendor agnostic and designed to fit brown field environments. The architecture considers four tiers: the Edge Tier, the Platform Tier, the Enterprise Tier and the Public Tier. The purpose of each tier and their interactions are described. Necessary functional components and decoupling mechanisms are discussed.