A Clarion Call for IoT Standards and Interoperability: Challenges and Prospects

Internet of Things (IoT) is a large network of devices equipped with sensors and wireless connectivity to ensure seamless sharing of information. IoT is used in diverse realms of our businesses and services including agriculture, energy, finance, health care, logistics and many more. Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems, platforms, devices, or networks to work in tandem. Interoperability in IoT helps easy information sharing between two heterogeneous systems or devices. In this article, we discuss the present status of IoT standards along with its challenges and prospects.

Fragmented IoT Market

At present, the IoT market is severely fragmented when it comes to the technologies used for communication. Such incompatibilities make communication and easy sharing of data difficult between the systems and devices in the IoT. For example, the IoT devices from a manufacturer cannot work with a device from another manufacturer making it impossible to create a smart home using the products from several manufacturers. The lack of interoperability limits the usefulness of IoT services. The size and complexity of IoT makes it also difficult to implement standardization. Setting standards for a platform that encompasses different types of devices pose a serious challenge. For instance, standards that work for smart lighting may not work in the case of smart bicycles.

Why IoT Standards and Interoperability?

Interoperability offers data unity and helps protect sensitive information in the first place. Data unity is inevitable for helping businesses in accessing and handling information from systems and devices. IoT standards and interoperability has been a talking point for quite some time in the recent past. Standards refer to a set of protocols and guidelines the devices and systems should follow to achieve seamless communication with each other. Due to the ever-increasing application of IoT devices, the need for standards in ensuring compatibility between systems and devices become significant.

Challenges in Implementing IoT Standards

However, it is easier said than done. Several challenges exist as there are a large number of technologies and devices involved. IoT systems and devices include small sensor devices and industrial appliances and machines. Further, these devices and systems use different communication protocols. While creating unified standards, these communication protocols become a serious bottleneck.

Changing Landscape of IoT:

The ever-evolving nature of IoT technologies, devices and systems create another challenge. Creating standards that are adaptable enough to accommodate the changing IoT landscape is hard to achieve. Also, it requires collaboration between manufacturers, developers and industries to make certain that the IoT standards are implemented successfully.

Market Fragmentation

Another significant challenge for IoT standards and interoperability is the fragmented nature of the market. As we all know, there are several platforms and devices available, it becomes almost impossible to ensure that all these work together flawlessly. It is true that different industries and use cases require different standards. Nevertheless, there should be universal standards that can be applied to several industries and applications. Many organizations try to resolve this issue by developing open standards for IoT systems and devices. If it works, it certainly ensures interoperability across several platforms.

Role of IEEE and OCF

Organizations such as The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) is working to develop standards for IoT. It will help IoT systems and devices to communicate seamlessly irrespective of the platform or manufacturer. Its main purpose is to OCF is to help devices from different manufacturers to work together securely. OCF membership accounts for around four hundred organisations? which include top software brands and silicon chip manufacturers. IoT standards and interoperability aims at connecting and communicating between multiple IoT devices and systems without interruption. OCF uses an open source platform named IoTivity. It can be embedded in IoT devices and systems. Developed to create middleware which lets servers and clients communicate with each other, in IoTivity, facilitates device-to-device connectivity.

Despite the challenges in IoT standardization, there are several advantages it brings into the IoT ecosystem. Let’s discuss it below

Ensures Security

Additionally, IoT standards and interoperability ensure proper security. When more devices and systems get connected to the internet, the threat of cyber attacks also increases. In order to ensure maximum security, organisations working towards the establishment of IoT standards, developed security specifications for IoT devices which includes certificate-based encryption and authentication.

Reduces Development Costs

IoT standards also reduce the development cost of IoT devices and systems. It helps manufacturers to create products that comply with the standards which are compatible with other devices. Eventually, it enables cost reduction and reduces lead time, improving efficiency to a great extent.

Optimizes Development Process

IoT Standards solves interoperability and connectivity issues and opens up opportunities in new areas. Further, it helps optimize the development process. Standard frameworks help developers reduce complexities and build useful devices with more functionalities. Standardized processes help developers to prototype devices in much less time. Reduced time for making IoT devices implies that end users can buy gadgets at reasonable costs.

Enhanced Usability

Yet another reason why IoT standards are significant is because we can use devices and systems effortlessly. The compatibility issue in IoT platforms interferes with the capabilities in using a device. Standardization is the complete solution for removing such hindrances, helping the IoT ecosystem to host several devices on a single network while ensuring that everything works coherently. When IoT features interoperability, users can also select the devices of their choice. Meanwhile, IoT devices become customizable to meet the evolving needs and also help expand its applications.

Scalable Solutions

Standardization imparts scalability in the IoT environments. Improved interoperability indicates that it is easy to broaden smart device networks. This also comes handy considering the applications of IoT in the manufacturing sector. In manufacturing industries, complex IoT networks help create efficient and smarter factories. If such kind of growth is expected, the IoT standards and interoperability are the only solutions where a scalable and faster development process becomes a reality!

Conclusion

The establishment of IoT standards and interoperability is vital for added security and connectivity across several devices. Indeed, it will help the IoT industry to grow by leaps and bounds. When more devices and systems get connected, there should be a proper way to help them communicate and work side by side, in absolute harmony to ensure the satisfaction of end users. The IoT landscape takes a big swing toward standardization and manufacturing industries, consumers and developers are going to benefit from it. IoT standards help fix the interoperability and connectivity issues by having a common framework for the working of IoT systems and devices.