A WoT-Based Method for Creating Digital Sentinel Twins of IoT Devices

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Cloud Computing
• Internet of Things (IoT)

Background:

• Real-time data from IoT sensors is crucial for organizational decision-making.
• Challenges include maintaining constant IoT-to-cloud dataflow and real-time data retrieval.
• Existing systems require managing complex details of physical devices, virtual devices, and cloud infrastructure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a cloud-based Web of Things method for creating digital twins of IoT devices, termed sentinels.
• To enable decision-making processes to abstractly access data and invoke functions from physical and virtual devices.
• To simplify interactions for applications and services by using sentinels instead of direct device management.

Main Methods:

• Development of a cloud-based Web of Things method using digital twins (sentinels).
• Sentinels provide an abstract interface for data retrieval (properties, events, sensor data) and function invocation (actions, tasks).
• Implementation of a prototype for a case study involving a blockchain system for logistics sensor data.

Main Results:

• The sentinel approach effectively abstracts complex device and cloud interactions.
• Demonstrated ability to attain data from IoT sensors and dataflows for decision-making.
• Case study showed successful verification of contract violations in product transportation logistics sensors.

Conclusions:

• Sentinels provide an effective mechanism for accessing and utilizing real-time IoT data.
• The proposed method simplifies decision-making processes by abstracting underlying complexities.
• This approach enhances the conversion of raw IoT data into actionable business information.