Unit - 5

Design Principles for Web Connectivity

Contents
Introduction

Web communication protocols for connected devices

Message communication protocols for connected devices

Web connectivity for connected-devices network using

Gateway, SOAP, REST, HTTP RESTful, and Web sockets
 Introduction
An IoT/M2M device network gateway needs connectivity to web servers.

A communication gateway enables web connectivity, while IoT/M2M specific protocols

and methods enable web connectivity for a connected devices network.

Following are some key terms, which need to be understood for learning web
connectivity and communication between the connected devices network and the web
for IoT:
Application or App Universal Resource Identifier
Application Programming Interface (API) Universal Resource Locator
Web service Representational State Transfer
Object (REST)
Communication gateway RESTful
Client User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
Server Hypertext
Broker HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
Communication protocol Hyperlink
Web protocol HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
Firewall Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Datagram Browser
Application or App refers to a software for applications such as creating and sending an
SMS, measuring and sending the measured data, receiving a message from a specific
sender etc.
Application Programming Interface (API) refers to a software component, which receives
messages from one end; for example, from an application or client or input. An API may
consist of GUIs (button, check box, text box, dialog box).
Web service refers to a servicing software which uses web protocols, web objects or
WebSockets; for example, weather reports service, traffic density reports, streetlights
monitoring and controlling service.
Object refers to a collection of resources; for example, collection of data and methods
(or functions or procedures) to operate on that data. Take for instance, Time_Date object
with second, minutes, hour, day, month and year fields and update methods.
An object instance can be just one or more than one for an object. An example of an object
instance is birth_date. Multiple object instances, abc_birth_date, pqr_birth_date,
xyz_birth_date and many instances can be created from birth_date object in JavaScript.
Communication gateway is one that functions as communication protocol translator
(convertor) for provisioning communication capabilities. For example, the gateway for
communication between ZigBee and IP networks.
Client refers to a software object which makes request for data, messages, resources or
objects.
Server is defined as a software which sends a response on a request. The server also sends
messages, alerts or notifications. The server has access to resources, databases and objects.
A server can be on a device or can be on a separate computer system, not necessarily on
Internet connected web.
Web object is the one that retrieves a resource from the web object at other end using a web
protocol.
Broker denotes an object, which arranges the communication between two ends;

Communication protocol defines the rules and conventions for communication

between networked devices and between systems.
Web protocol is a protocol that defines the rules and conventions for communication
between the web server and web clients.

Firewall is one that protects the server from unauthentic resources.

Resource denotes something that can be read (used), written (created or changed)
or executed (processed). A path specification is also a resource. The resource is
atomic (not further divisible) information, which is usable during computations.
A resource is accessible using a resource identifier. A resource identifier can
be a path specification, such as a Universal Resource Locator (URL) or Universal
Resource Identifier (URI). Universal Resource Locator is generally used for retrieving
a resource(s) by a client.

Path denotes a navigation path between two ends when accessing a resource.
Datagram refers to a limited size data (216 byte).
Representational State Transfer (REST) is a software architecture referring to ways of
defining the identifiers for the resources, methods, access methods and data transfer
during interactions.
REST is a software architecture which also specifies the practices, constraints,
characteristics and guidelines for creating scalable web services. Scalable means can be used
as per the size.
The architecture is used during the design of web software components, clients and
web APIs .
RESTful refers to one which follows REST constraints and characteristics.
Hyperlink refers to a specification of the URL for a resource path, so that a link can be
established between two objects.
Hypertext means text embedded with hyperlinks. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
means an application layer protocol for use of hypertext as app data transfer protocol.
Clients and servers use the URLs http://… .
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is
a language for creating a hypertext which
refers to text that embeds
text,
images,
audio and video,
forms, lists, tables,
navigation links (reference to resources),
APIs..etc
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a protocol at the transport layer for the web using Internet
and Constrained RESTful Environment (CoRE).
UDP specifies the way of enveloping the datagram by header words, which just
specifies the ports and addresses of two ends between which the datagram transfers.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a Browser is a client software which

language, which enables creation, sending displays hypertext that enables
and receiving documents, messages, navigation to the hypertext links
commands, query responses, queries, and shown on the user screen, and
creation of forms. which displays GUIs of the apps,
display form, display server
responses, and so on.
 WEB COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
Data of connected devices routes over the web in two types of communication environments.
The environments are:
● Constrained RESTful Environment (CoRE):
IoT devices or M2M devices communicate between themselves in a Local Area Network.
A device typically sends or receives 10s of bytes. The data gathered after enriching and
consolidating from a number of devices consists of 100s of bytes. A gateway in the
communication framework enables the data of networked devices that communicate over the
Internet using the REST software architecture.
Devices have the constraint in the sense that their data is limited in size compared
to when data interchange between web clients and web servers takes place using
HTTP, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).
Another constraint is data-routing when Routing Over a network of Low power
and (data) Loss (ROLL). ROLL network is a wireless network with low power transceiver.
Another constraint is that the devices may sleep most of the time in low power environment
and awaken on an event or when required (on client initiative).
● Unconstrained Environment:
Web applications use HTTP and RESTful HTTP for web client and web
server communication. A web object consists of 1000s of bytes. Data routes over IP networks
for the Internet.
 Contd..WEB COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES

Figure: IoT or M2M devices local network connectivity and web connectivity in constrained (above thick dotted
line) and unconstrained RESTful HTTP (below thick dotted line) environments using communication protocols
Above Figure shows the following:
● Assume i-devices (1, 2, … ith) connected devices network, and local network having
Web objects refer to client and servernconnectivity between the devices at physical/data-link
and adaptation layer (left-handside)

● Communication between web objects (right-hand side)

● IETF CoRE specifications, which include CoAP and UDP
● Web objects’ protocols for sending a request or response; for example, RESTful CoAP,
CoAP client and CoAP server communication over the network and transport layers
to other end CoAP client and server.
Client/server use the URIs coap://… in place of http://… .
● Transport layer protocols used are Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and
UDP. Data between web objects route using ROLL network specifications of IETF.
● 100s of bytes communicate between the IoT web objects
● Web objects HTTP client and HTTP server communication over the Internet using the
IP and client/server use the URLs http://… .
● 1000s of bytes communicate between HTTP web objects using certain protocols for
sending a request or response; for example, RESTful HTTP. IPv6 or IP is the network
layer protocol used. The transport layer protocols used are TLS and TCP.
IoT device or machine applications need constrained environment protocols such as
CoAP and LWM2M.
Constrained Application Protocol
IETF recommends Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) which is for CoRE using
ROLL data network.

It is a web transfer protocol which is used in constrained nodes or networks such as

WSN, IoT, M2M etc. Hence the name Constrained Application Protocol. The protocol is targetted
for Internet of Things (IoT) devices having less memory and less power specifications

As it is designed for web applications it is also known as "The Web of Things Protocol". It can be
used to transport data from few bytes to 1000s of bytes over web applications. It exists between
UDP layer and Application layer.
Following are the features of CoAP Protocol:
• It is very efficient RESTful protocol.
• Easy to proxy to/from HTTP.
• It is open IETF standard
• It is Embedded web transfer protocol (coap://)
• It uses asynchronous transaction model.
• UDP is binding with reliability and multicast support.
• URI is supported.
• It uses small and simple 4 byte header.
• Supports binding to UDP, SMS and TCP.
The above figure depicts CoAP Architecture.
As shown it extends normal HTTP clients to clients having resource constraints.
These clients are known as CoAP clients.
Proxy device bridges gap between constained environment and typical internet
environment based on HTTP protocols. Same server takes care of both HTTP and
CoAP protocol messages.
CoAP message format

The CoAP message format consists of 4 bytes header followed by token value (from
0 to 8 bytes). The table below mentions header which consists of 4 bytes i.e. 32 bits.
Lightweight Machine-to-Machine Communication
Protocol
Lightweight Machine-to-Machine Communication (LWM2M) protocol is an application layer
protocol specified
by Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)
Designed especially for remote device management and telemetry within the
Internet of Things as well as in other M2M applications.
Lightweight M2M was designed intrinsically to reduce power and data consumption.

The protocol’s specification describes many typical

IoT device management functions, such as
remote device actions,
firmware and
software updates
connectivity monitoring and management
including cellular management and provisioning.
The protocol enables communication between LWM2M client at IoT device and an
LWM2M server at the M2M application and service capability layer.
The protocol is a compact one, meaning small header. It has an efficient data
model.
It is generally used in conjunction with CoAP.
Communication protocol ‘light weight’ means that
it does not depend on call to the system resources during execution.
Example of call to a system resource is calling an API for display menu or network
function in the system software (OS).

Lightweight presently means

data transfer formats between client and server are binary and has Tag Length Value (TLV)
or
Java Script Object Notation (JSON) batches of object arrays or resource arrays and
transfers up to 100s of bytes unlike the webpages of 1000s of bytes.
 MESSAGE COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
A device/node/end-point/client/server sends and receives message(s).

A communication module includes

a protocol handler,
message queue and
message cache.
The protocol handler functions during transmission and reception of messages
according to the communication protocols for these actions.

Message queue forms to keep a message until it is transmitted towards its

destination.

Message cache keeps an incoming message until it is saved into the module.

A device message-queue inserts (writes) the message into the queue and
deletes (reads) the message from the queue. Device message-cache stores the
received messages.
 Contd.. MESSAGE COMMUNICATION
PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
Communication Protocols
Following are the protocols used in message communication.
CoAP-SMS and
CoAP-MQ

CoAP is also being used via other mechanisms, such as SMS on mobile
communication networks.
M2M or IoT device uses SMS quite frequently. SMS is identified as the
transport protocol for transmission of small data (up to 160 characters). It is used for
communicating with a GSM/GPRS mobile device.
M2M or IoT device uses message queuing quite frequently due to ROLL
environment and constrained devices (awake only when initiated) or connection-
breaks for long periods.
CoAP-SMS and CoAP-MQ are two protocols drafted and recommended by
IETF.
 Contd.. MESSAGE COMMUNICATION
PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
CoAP-SMS
CoAP-SMS is a protocol when CoAP object uses IP as well as cellular networks and uses
SMS. It is an alternative to UDP-DTLS over ROLL for CoAP object messages and when
using cellular communication.

SMS is used instead of UDP + DTLS by a CoAP client or server. A CoAP client
communicates to a mobile terminal (MT) endpoint over the General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks using
CoAP-SMS protocol.

Following is the IETF recommended terminology for use:

● SMS-C: SMS service centre
● SMS-SP SMS service provider
● CIMD: Computer interface to message distribution
● MS: Mobile station at a cellular network functioning as CoAP client or CoAP sever
● MO: Machine or IoT device or mobile origin functioning as CoAP client
● MT: Machine or IoT device or mobile terminal functioning as CoAP sever
 Contd.. MESSAGE COMMUNICATION
PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
The CoAP-SMS features are as follows:

● An URI used as
coap+sms:// in place of coap://.
For example,
URI may be
coap+sms://telNum/carLocatiobObject/latitude

for latitude of location of a car after LocationObject measures location

parameters using the GPS.
URI is used when sending the SMS to the specified telephone number—telNum.
 Contd.. MESSAGE COMMUNICATION
PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
● A CoAP message encodes with alphabets for SMS communication.

An SMS message consists of 160 characters in 7-bit encoding of a character.

Maximum length for a CoAP message is thus 140 B (= 160 × 7 bits/8
bits) when an SMS-C supports 8-bit encoding.

A CoAP message is thus 70 (= 160 × 7 bits/16 bits) when an SMS-C supports

16-bit encoding and multilingual alphabets.

● Data interchange sequences are as follows:

1. An MS/CoAP client sends a SMS request(SMS-SUBMIT) to SMS-C;
2. SMS-C reports using SMS-SUBMIT-REPORT;
3. SMS-C sends SMS (SMS-DELIVER) to MS/CoAP server;
4. The server reports using SMS-DELIVERREPORT; and
5. SMS-C sends SMS-STATUS-REPORT to the client.
 Contd.. MESSAGE COMMUNICATION
PROTOCOLS
FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
CoAP-MQ
CoAP-MQ is a message queue protocol using a broker and RD. Roles of CoAP endpoints
have roles as a client and server.

MQTT Protocol
Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) is an open-source protocol for machine-to
machine (M2M)/IoT connectivity.
Word ‘telemetry’, in English dictionary, means measuring and sending values or
messages to far off places by radio or other mechanism.

MQTT is a standard messaging protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT).

It is designed as an extremely lightweight publish/subscribe messaging transport that is
ideal for connecting remote devices with a small code footprint and minimal network
bandwidth.

MQTT today is used in a wide variety of industries, such as automotive, manufacturing,

telecommunications, oil and gas, etc.
 What is difference between CoAP and
MQTT?
MQTT messages can be used for any purpose,
but all clients must know the message formats
up-front to allow communication.
CoAP, conversely, provides inbuilt support for
content negotiation and discovery allowing
devices to probe each other to find ways of
exchanging data.
 WEB CONNECTIVITY FOR CONNECTED DEVICES NETWORK
USING
GATEWAY, SOAP, REST, HTTP RESTFUL AND
WEBSOCKETS
The following subsections describe the uses of
gateway,
SOAP,
REST,
RESTful HTTP and
WebSockets for connecting web objects.

Communication Gateway

Communication gateway connects two application layers, one at sender and the
other at receiver.
The gateway also enables use of two different protocols, one at sender
and the other at receiver ends.
The gateway facilitates the communication between web server using the
TCP/IP protocol conversion gateway and IoT devices.
It also facilitates communication between the devices using CoAP client
and server using HTTP.
 Contd…WEB CONNECTIVITY FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
NETWORK USING
GATEWAY, SOAP, REST, HTTP RESTFUL AND
WEBSOCKETS
SOAP
Applications need to exchange objects on the Internet using protocols such as HTTP.
Applications may be using different languages and platforms. Simple Object Access
(SOAP) is a W3C -The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) approved open-source
protocol.
SOAP is a protocol for exchange of objects between applications using XML.

It is also a protocol for access to a web service.

SOAP specifies the formats and way of communicating the messages.

Its usage is independent of the application language and platform (OS and hardware).

It is extensible and is also used for APIs for the web services and Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA).
 Contd…WEB CONNECTIVITY FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
NETWORK USING
GATEWAY, SOAP, REST, HTTP RESTFUL AND
WEBSOCKETS
WebSocket
WebSocket is an IETF accepted protocol.

A WebSocket is a network protocol that allows two-way communication between a

server and client.
Unlike HTTP, which uses a request and response pattern, WebSocket peers
can send messages in either direction at any point in time.

Instant messaging and many applications need bidirectional data exchanges

over the same connection.

WebSocket enables
bidirectional communication over a single TCP connection.
 Contd…WEB CONNECTIVITY FOR CONNECTED DEVICES
NETWORK USING
GATEWAY, SOAP, REST, HTTP RESTFUL AND
WEBSOCKETS
Features of WebSocket are:

● Small header size (2B extended to 6 byte and above compared to 100s B and above
for an HTTP header which results in high latency

● No new connection which will need a new header and thus no new latency period

● WSAPIs, because of very low connection latencies, facilitate live content and the
creation of real-time games.

● Protocol is an independent TCP-based protocol.

● Clients and servers exchange the ‘messages’ after a successful handshake.