designing delay-tolerant data services for the network of things

Designing Delay-Tolerant Data Services for the Network of ThingsDaniel Austin

Interstellar Travel, Inc.daniel@thestarsmydestination.com

1st Annual Big Data Innovation SummitApril 09 2014 Silicon Valley, California

Big Ideas for Today’s Talk

The Internet of Things is Coming

Delay-Tolerant Networking for the NoT

Big Data is Key to Networking Millions of Small Devices

Adoption will be Driven by Evolution of the Social Issues

Networks of Things

Big Data

Delay-Tolerant

Networks

“If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things – using data they gathered without any help from us – we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling…”

-Kevin Ashton, 1989

The Network of Things

A Day in the Connected Life

…”a system where the Internet is connected to the physical world via ubiquitous sensors…”

Characteristics of the Network of Things

• Many small messages • Intermittent transmission• Connectionless• Stateless• No guaranteed delivery• Lazy/No Acknowledgements• Mesh architectures based on proximity• Mixed/variable security

Service Types for the Network of Things

• Proximity– Identity– Authorization/Eligibility– History– Personalization

• Location• Companions/Presence• Service Discovery• Ordering/Billing/Payments

WPAN (NoT) Protocols

• IEEE 802.15.4 was designed for wireless PANS– ZigBee and other protocols

• 6LowPAN (RFC 6282) describes how to route IPv6 over 802.15.4 networks

• Problems with IPv6 & NoT– IPv6 requires minimum MTU of 1280 bytes

• Far too large for IoT messages• Overhead for addressing ~ 40 bytes of IPv6 + 20 bytes for

TCP– IP designed for bulk data transport

• Congestion is not an issue for the NoT!

Bluetooth Low Energy vs 6LowPAN

BLE

• Range = 100m• Security = 128-bit

AES• MSG SZ = 128 octets• BLE 4.0 protocol• Clean separation of

BLE protocol stack from TCP/IP

6LowPAN

• Range = 20m• Security = 128-bit AES• MSG SZ = 127 octets• IPv6 over 802.15• Mixed protocol stack

Delay-Tolerant Networking

• TCP/IP Assumptions:– End-to-End connection– Short, fixed delays– Symmetric data rates– Low error rates– Some knowledge of existing network

• DTNs originated at NASA for interplanetary communications (RFC 4838 & 5050)– Applies to all intermittently connected scenarios,

including the NoT

How DTNs Work

TCP/IP

DTN

Source; DTN SIG

DTNs: From Cars to Interplanetary Networks

Source; DTN SIG

CAP Theorem & DTNs

Source: DTN SIG

Big Data and the Network of Things

• Many Small Devices = Big Data• Consistency, Availability, and (network) Partition

take on new meanings in the NoT– DTNs weaken CAP assumptions– Consistency can’t easily be checked

• Big Data, NoT, and Security– Not based on encryption– Anonymity through disaggregation

Are You a Big Data Problem?

• Each person will generate roughly 20 petabytes of data over the course of a lifetime– Users have little control over collection and storage– Email, documents, receipts, bills (!), your car, music,

books…• Pervasive computing multiplies the problem

– Majority of data valueless out of context – Security & Privacy concerns

• Networks of Things instead of ‘Internet of Things’– Security by data partition

Ubiquitous/Anonymous Peering Patterns

• Peer-to-peer • Low levels of security• Resilient to network

partitions• Proximity based – no

identity• Good for service

discovery

Peer 1

Peer 2

Peer3

Peer 4

Client/Server Patterns

• Clients transmits to one server

• Higher Security• Requires server

asymmetry• Can offer additional

services– History– Personalization– Identity

Privacy Controller

Client 1

Client 2

Client 3

Design Rules for Data Services

• Security & Privacy First!!• Delay tolerance required• Idempotent/stateless• Messages vs. Request/Response• Anticipate Maximum Mesh• Batched/Bundled vs. Event-Driven

Big Takeaways

• IoT <-> DTNs <-> Big Data– pervasive = invasive ?– Evolution of Big Data Depends on the IoT

• Delay-tolerance for mobile networks– Realistic assumptions– CAP theorem, store-and-forward consistency– Online/offline distinction is blurring

• Only expect partial adoption, based on loose aggregations– ‘Networks of Things’ vs. ‘Internet of Things’

Big Data

Network of

Things

Delay-Tolerant Networki

ng

By 2020 everyone, everything and everywhere will be connected in real time. More than 50 billion connected devices will be used in the

Networked Society.

Source: http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/networked_society

Designing Delay-Tolerant Data Services for the Network of ThingsDaniel Austin

Interstellar Travel, Inc.daniel@thestarsmydestination.com

1st Annual Big Data Innovation SummitApril 09 2014 Silicon Valley, California

Thank You!