ISO/IEC 29182-7:2015

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 29182-7
First edition
2015-02-15
Information technology — Sensor
networks: Sensor Network Reference
Architecture (SNRA) —
Part 7:
Interoperability guidelines
Technologies de l’information — Réseaux de capteurs: Architecture de
référence pour réseaux de capteurs —
Partie 7: Lignes directrices pour l’interopérabilité
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2015
© ISO/IEC 2015
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Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO/IEC 2015 – All rights reserved

Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Symbols (and abbreviated terms) . 1
5 Overview of interoperability between heterogeneous sensor networks .2
5.1 General . 2
5.2 Interoperability in sensor network service framework . 2
6 Guidelines for interoperability between heterogeneous sensor networks .4
6.1 General . 4
6.2 Interoperability between the user and the service provider (Interface 1) . 5
6.3 Interoperability between the gateway and the service provider (Interface 3) . 5
6.4 Interoperability between the sensor network and the gateway (Interface 4) . 7
6.5 Interoperability between sensor nodes (Interface 5) . 7
Bibliography . 8
© ISO/IEC 2015 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies
casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 29182-7 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology.
ISO/IEC 29182 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Sensor
networks: Sensor Network Reference Architecture (SNRA):
— Part 1: General overview and requirements
— Part 2: Vocabulary and terminology
— Part 3: Reference architecture views
— Part 4: Entity models
— Part 5: Interface definitions
— Part 6: Applications
— Part 7: Interoperability guidelines
iv © ISO/IEC 2015 – All rights reserved

Introduction
A wide range of applications has been proposed for sensor networks. In practice, however, sensor
networks have been built and deployed for a relatively small number of applications. This is partly
due to the lack of a business case for certain applications and partly due to technical challenges in
building a non-trivial sensor network of reasonable complexity. The main reason for this impediment
is multi-disciplinary expertise — such as sensors, communications and networking, signal processing,
electronics, computing, and cyber security is required to design a sensor network. Presently, the design
process is so complex that one can leverage little from one sensor network design to another. It appears as
if one has to start from almost scratch every time one wishes to design and deploy a sensor network. Yet,
upon closer inspection, there are many commonalities in instantiations of sensor networks that realize
various applications. These commonalities include similarities in the choice of network architecture and
the entities/functional blocks that are used in the architecture.
The purpose of the ISO/IEC 29182 series is to
— provide guidance to facilitate the design and development of sensor networks,
— improve interoperability of sensor networks, and
— make sensor networks plug-and-play, so that it becomes fairly easy to add/remove sensor nodes
to/from an existing sensor network.
The ISO/IEC 29182 series can be used by sensor network designers, software developers, and service
providers to meet customer requirements, including any applicable interoperability requirements.
The ISO/IEC 29182 series is comprised of seven parts. Brief descriptions of these parts are given next.
ISO/IEC 29182-1 provides a general overview and the requirements for the sensor network reference
architecture.
ISO/IEC 29182-2 provides definitions for the terminology and vocabulary used in the reference
architecture.
ISO/IEC 29182-3 presents the reference architecture from various viewpoints, such as business,
operational, system, technical, functional, and logical views.
ISO/IEC 29182-4 categorizes the entities comprising the reference architecture into two classes of
physical and functional entities and presents models for the entities.
ISO/IEC 29182-5:2013 provides detailed information on the interfaces among various entities in the
reference architecture.
ISO/IEC 29182-6 provides detailed information on the development of International Standardized Profiles.
ISO/IEC 29182-7 provides design principles for the reference architecture that take the interoperability
requirements into account.
There are no requirements for compliance in ISO/IEC 29182-1 to ISO/IEC 29182-7. Users are to ensure
that the sensor nodes and the related sensor network are compliant with the application or deployment
governing body.
© ISO/IEC 2015 – All rights reserved v

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 29182-7:2015(E)
Information technology — Sensor networks: Sensor
Network Reference Architecture (SNRA) —
Part 7:
Interoperability guidelines
1 Scope
This part of ISO/IEC 29182 provides a general overview and guidelines for achieving interoperability
between sensor network services and related entities in a heterogeneous sensor network.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 29182-1, Information technology — Sensor networks: Sensor Network Reference Architecture
(SNRA) — Part 1: General overview and requirements
ISO/IEC 29182-2, Information technology — Sensor networks: Sensor Network Reference Architecture
(SNRA) — Part 2: Vocabulary and terminology
ISO/IEC 29182-5:2013, Information technology — Sensor networks: Sensor Network Reference Architecture
(SNRA) — Part 5: Interface definitions
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 29182-2 apply.
4 Symbols (and abbreviated terms)
This part of ISO/IEC 29182 uses the following abbreviations and acronyms.
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
API Application Programming Interface
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
ICT Information and Communication Technologies
SNRA Sensor Network Reference Architecture
TCP/IP Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
UWB Ultra Wideband
WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
© ISO/IEC 2015 – All rights reserved 1

5 Overview of interoperability between heterogeneous sensor networks
5.1 General
A sensor network is a system of spatially distributed sensor nodes interacting with each other and,
depending on applications, with ICT infrastructures, in order to acquire, process, and provide information
about the physical world and optionally react to such information [ISO/IEC 29182-1].
There are many different sensor network applications in a variety of domains such as environment
monitoring, logistics management, industrial automation, intelligent highway system, and perimeter
protection. From one sensor network service domain to another, significant differences exist in service
requirements, service types, processing functions, interfaces, operational attributes, data formats, and
so on. These differences influence the interoperability of sensor networks.
Due to these differences, a sensor network may be classified into two different types of sensor network,
a homogeneous sensor network and a heterogeneous sensor network.
The differentiation of the homogeneous and heterogeneous sensor networks can be viewed from sensor
type perspective and from communication protocol perspective. From the sensor type perspective,
the homogeneous sensor networks can be classified as having the same type or functionally identical
sensor nodes while the heterogeneous sensor networks can be classified as having different types or
functionally different sensor nodes. From the communication protocol perspective, the homogeneous
sensor networks can be classified as having the same or interoperable protocols while the heterogeneous
sensor networks can be classified as having different or not interoperable types of protocols. In this
standard, the communication protocol perspective is used to differentiate the types of sensor networks.
The typical difference is the communication protocol. There are various communication protocols for
sensor networks, such as IEEE 802.15.4x series, IETF 6LoWPAN, ZigBee, Bluetooth, and UWB.
From the communication protocol perspective, homogeneous sensor networks are by definition
interoperable with each other, because they use the same communication protocol between entities
of their service domains. On the other hand, heterogeneous sensor networks are not able to interwork
with each other due to the differentiation of the communication protocols they use.
Heterogeneity is a common feature of sensor networks, but it may cause various problems. A sensor
network application may rely on different sub-networks of a heterogeneous sensor network.
Therefore, the interoperability between heterogeneous sensor networks is a great challenge in the
Sensor Network Reference Architecture (SNRA).
5.2 Interoperability in sensor network service framework
From a service-oriented viewpoint, the flow of information from sensor nodes to service providers for
providing specific sensor network services to users, the overall architecture of sensor network can be
represented in the hierarchical architecture.
This hierarchical architecture, which is called the sensor network service framework, is illustrated in
Figure 1. It is the same as Figure 7 in ISO/IEC 29182-5. It has been reproduced in this document for ease
of reference.
2 © ISO/IEC 2015 – All rights reserved

Figure 1 — Interfaces and entities of the sensor network service framework
There are various communication protocols or interfaces for each entity in Figure 1. Interoperability
implies an internetworking capability between the entities in the sensor network service framework.
Figure 2 is a graphical representation of an interoperable sensor network service framework with the
arrows representing the interfaces that enable seamless interoperability between the entities.
Figure 2 — Graphical representation of an interoperable sensor network service framework
Interoperability also needs to exist vertically s
...