Using Reference Architecture for Design and Evaluation of Web of Things Systems 1 A Case of Smart Home Domain

Web of Things (WoT) provides abstraction that simplifies the creation of Internet of Things (IoT) systems. IoT systems are designed to support a number of ubiquitous devices and decision management sub-systems. The devices and sub-systems can be a part of safety critical operations as well as smart management of multiple actuators that control the smart home devices. The devices and sub-systems need to comply to standardized business and quality requirements of a specific IoT domain. Designing sub-systems and actuators for the individual devices independently can result in lack of standardization and negatively impact the overall quality of the IoT system. Standardisation of the IoT applications constituting IoT system can be facilitated by providing a standardisation at the architecture level. As using Reference Architectures (RA) is a well established approach to achieve architectural standardisation, using the RA for designing IoT systems can facilitate standardisation of the architecture of individual sub-systems in an IoT system. The aim of the research presented this chapter is to provide insight to the process of using the RA for analysis, design, evaluation and evolution of the IoT systems. We present a software process-based approach to use the RA for development of IoT system. We use a case study-based research approach to analyse application of the process for design, evaluation and evolution of the IoT system for smart-home domain. The applications of the presented approach is analysed with reference to security and energy management in the smart homes. The results of the case studies show that (i) the IoT RA can be used for the initial design to incorporate the standardized business and quality requirements, (ii) the elements of the concrete sub-system architectures can be included in the IoT RA for its evolution with respect to the emerging requirements and (iii) open discussion by including all the potential stakeholders to determine key business and quality requirements of an IoT system can play an important rule for the evaluation of the concrete IoT sub-systems as well as evolution of the IoT RA. We foresee 1This chapter describes a method for software architecture design, analysis, evaluation and evolution of individual Internet of Things (IoT) subsystems and how individual IoT subsystems can be used for design of Web of Things (WoT) systems. 2Muhammad Aufeef Chauhan is a Postdoctoral researcher at IT University of Copenhagen and Technical University of Denmark. c © Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1