ISO/IEC 20924:2024

ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 3.0 2024-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
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inside
Internet of things (IoT) and digital twin – Vocabulary

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ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 3.0 2024-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Internet of things (IoT) and digital twin – Vocabulary
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 35.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-8333-2
– 2 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV © ISO/IEC 2024
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
3.1 General terms . 5
3.2 Internet of Things specific terms . 10
3.3 Digital twin specific terms . 12
Bibliography . 15

INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND DIGITAL TWIN –
VOCABULARY
FOREWORD
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This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes
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– 4 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV © ISO/IEC 2024
ISO/IEC 20924 has been prepared by subcommittee 41: Internet of Things and Digital Twin, of
ISO/IEC joint technical committee 1: Information technology. It is an International Standard.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 2021. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
a) addition of new terms which are used in other ISO/IEC IoT related standards;
b) update of some definitions to align with current usage in IoT standards;
c) extension of digital twin related vocabularies with title and scope changes.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
JTC1-SC41/386/FDIS JTC1-SC41/404/RVD

Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, and the ISO/IEC Directives, JTC 1 Supplement
available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs and www.iso.org/directives.

IMPORTANT – The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates
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INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND DIGITAL TWIN –
VOCABULARY
1 Scope
This document provides a definition of Internet of Things and digital twin along with a set of
terms and definitions. This document is a terminology foundation for the Internet of Things and
digital twin.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
3.1 General terms
3.1.1
application
software designed to fulfil a particular purpose
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 24713-2:2008, 4.1, modified – "program or piece of" has been removed
deleted from the beginning of the definition.]
3.1.2
architecture
set of fundamental concepts or properties of a system an entity in its environment
embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution
Note 1 to entry: Governing principles are covered in the architecture description and are not part of the architecture.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:20112022, 3.2, modified – "set of" has been added to the
beginning of the definition, "and governing principles for the realization and evolution of this
entity and its related life cycle processes" has been deleted from the end of the definition, and
Note 1 to entry has been added.]
3.1.3
asset
entity (3.1.17) that has potential or actual value and is either owned by or under the custody of
to an individual, an organization, a government, or other groups

– 6 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV © ISO/IEC 2024
3.1.4
availability
property of being accessible and usable upon demand by an authorized entity (3.1.17)
Note 1 to entry: IoT systems (3.2.15) can include both human users (3.1.18) and service components as "authorized
entities".
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.7]
3.1.6
characteristic
abstraction of a property of an entity or of a set of entities
[SOURCE: ISO 18104:2014, 3.1.4]
3.1.5
cloud computing
paradigm for enabling network (3.1.24) access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable
physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on demand
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.5 ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.1.1, modified – Notes 1 and 2
to entry have been deleted.]
3.1.6
cloud service
one or more capabilities offered via cloud computing (3.1.5) invoked using a defined interface
(3.1.22)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.8 ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.1.2]
3.1.7
cloud service provider
party which makes cloud services available that is acting in a cloud service provider role
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.15 ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.3.3]
3.1.8
cloud service provider role
CSP role
set of activities that make cloud services available
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.3.15]
3.1.10
compliance
conformance to rules, such as those defined by a law, a regulation, a standard, or a policy
3.1.9
component
modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a system
[SOURCE: ISO 14813-5:2010, B.1.31, modified – "that encapsulates implementation and
exposes a set of interfaces" has been deleted from the end of the definition.]
3.1.10
confidentiality
property that information (3.1.21) is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals,
entities, or processes
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.10]
3.1.11
data
symbol or symbols represented in a digital and formalized manner suitable for communication,
storage, interpretation or processing
3.1.12
data store
persistent repository for digital data (3.1.11)
Note 1 to entry: A data store can be accessed by a single entity (3.1.17) or shared by multiple entities via a network
(3.1.24) or other connection.
3.1.13
digital entity
computational element and/or data element
entity (3.1.17) that exists in the digital realm
Note 1 to entry: A digital entity can exist in several forms, including a cloud service (3.1.6) or as a service (3.1.28)
in a data centre, or as a network (3.1.24) element or as an IoT gateway (3.2.14).
3.1.14
discovery service
service (3.1.28) to find resources, entities or services based on a specification, keywords,
search terms, or tags of the desired target
Note 1 to entry: A discovery service can be used by a human user (3.1.18) or a digital user (3.2.4).
3.1.15
endpoint
component (3.1.8) that exposes or and uses one or more network (3.1.24) interfaces (3.1.22)
3.1.16
endpoint address
value character or group of characters that can be used to identify an endpoint
(3.1.15), which can designate the originating source or destination of data (3.1.11) being
transmitted
3.1.17
entity
anything (physical or non-physical) having a distinct existence
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15459-3:2014, 3.1]
3.1.19
functional component
functional building block needed to engage in an activity, backed by an implementation
Note 1 to entry: See also "component", which is a superset containing all functional componen
...