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IoTMarketplace:AdataandAPImarketforIoTdevices

BhaskarKrishnamachari,JerryPower,CyrusShahabi,SeonHoKimUniversityofSouthernCalifornia

January15,2017

1.DescriptionofUSCIoTMarketplace

IoTMarketplace is anewplatform to integrate IoTapplicationswithfinancialtransactionsandbrokerage concepts for IoTdataandservices(includingmarketingandpricing)sothatIoT sensor data, access to actuators, and relevant data processing/analytics functions(through APIs) can be efficiently listed, searched, and traded among users (i.e., sellers,buyers,andbrokers).

IoT Marketplace envisions a world where application developers can gain access to themyriadofsensorsand/oractuatorsthatothershavedeployedand connected to thenetwork, and sensor owners can take the initiative and deploy intelligent sensors inanticipationofanemergingand independentapplicationmarketthatwillutilizetheirdataforthebenefitofitsusers.

WiththeIoTMarketplaceplatform,IOTdeviceownerswillbeallowedtoaccess/tradetheirdifferent kindsof sensor dataandactuatoraccesswithmanydifferentvendorstocreateasupportingenvironment so advanceddata analyticsprogramscanbeefficientlydevelopedandsupported in a multivendor-multi-owner device environment. The IoT MarketplaceprovidesmethodstomakeitmucheasiertodevelopanddeployIOTapplicationsanddevicesbymaximizingthelevelofdatareuseandinteroperationamongdifferentapplications

2.Background

Connectivity intheworldaroundusisbeingextendedthroughtheInternetofThings(IoT).With smartwearables, smarthomes, smart factories, smart cities, andotherapplications,weareseeingasurgeinthenumberofconnectedIoTdevices.Thus,manytargetedIoTcloudand application platforms have been developed and currentlyinservice,suchasAmazonAWS IoT,MS Azure IoT, etc. The purpose of anyIoT deviceis to connect withotherIoTdevicesandapplications (cloud-basedmostly) through the Internet. TheseconnectionscanbecomplicatedforacloudorapplicationtomanagewithouttheuseofintermediaryIoTPlatforms(alsoreferredtoasIoTmiddlewareplatforms).TheintermediaryIoTPlatformseeksto fill thegapbetweenthedevicesensor/actuatorsandthecentralcloudbasedsystems inordertomake iteasier todevelopapplicationsthataredependentondata generated bydifferentdeviceswithmanydifferentowners. Suchaplatformconnectsthedatanetworkto the sensor/actuator arrangementononesideandconnectstotheapplication networkontheother. Asacompositesystem,thismakesiteasierforapplicationdevelopers

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to1)providecomplexinsightsusingbackendapplicationstomakesenseofplethoraofdatageneratedbylotsofsensors,and2)takecomplexactionthoughtheuseofmanyconnectedactuators.Todate,mostexistingIOTplatformsassumethesensorsareeitherownedbytheapplicationownerorthatthesensorownerswillgraciouslyprovideapplicationaccesstotheirsensordatainexchangeforaccesstotheapplication.

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Figure 1. Typical IoT System Architecture

TheexistingcloudbasedIoTplatformtechnologiesandsolutionshavebeenmainlyfocusedontherealizationofIOTapplicationfunctionality(i.e.,designandimplementation offundamental infrastructure to collect, transfer, store, interact with targeted sensor dataneededtofulfillthemissionofaspecificapplication).Theyareratherlimitedinscope,withverticalintegrationofallaspectsofaconstrainedIoTsystem(seethearchitectureshowninFigure1)ownedandcoordinatedbyasingleorganization:thesameentitymustnecessarilydevelopanddeploysensorsandotherIoTedgedevicesaswellasthecloud-basedstorage,computingandanalyticsenginesneededtosupportenduserapplications.

AsIoTtechnologiescontinuetomatureandbecomemorediverse,newchallengesareemergingbecause of the increasing complexity of the realworld.These challenges includesecurity,privacy, legal, interoperability, etc. These challenges become especially complicated in afragmented and proprietary IoT environment as the ecosystem continues to grow. Thetechnicalimplementationsofthesesystemswillinhibitvalueforusersandindustry.Whilefullinteroperabilityacrossproductsandservicesisnotalwaysfeasibleornecessary,potentialIoT

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userswillbehesitanttobuyIoTproductsandservicesifthereisintegrationinflexibility,highownershipcomplexity,concernovervendorlock-in,andtheuserdoesnothavecontrolofthedatatheirdevices generate. The use of generic, open, and widely available standards astechnicalbuildingblocksforIoTdevicesandserviceswillsupportgreateruser benefits,innovation, andeconomicopportunitybutproposedsolutionsarenotcapableofsupportingthediversityofIoTdevicesultimatelyenvisioned.Futureimplementationsmustgofurthertoinvolvesensorownersarepartnersinthevaluecreationprocess.Thisstateoftheartapproachislimitingandresultsinaneconomicallysignificantgap—IoTapplicationshavenovaluetilltheyhavedata,yetdeviceownersarenervousaboutdisclosingpersonaldatatothirdparties.Meanwhile, applicationdevelopersdonotalwayshavethewherewithaltodeploytheirowndevices but are forced to do so. Until this chicken-and-egg problem issolved,applicationdeveloperswillstruggletobreakfreeandunlockthepotentialthatIoTrepresents.

AnothermajortrendistheincreasedemphasisofIoTdatausabilityandanalytics.AccordingtotheCEOofInfobright–InthenewbraveworldofIoTanalyticscompanieswillstruggletohandletheunpredictabledatareality.Theproblemthesecompanieswillbefacingisnotonly storing and handling vast volume of data but also converting it into actionableinformation. Thus,oneofthecriticalnewchallengesinIoTistomaketheIoTdatamoreusable.

TheproposedIoTMarketplaceaimsto satisfy the challenge of IoT data usability andsensor/actuator owner participation by providing amarketplacefor IoTapplications.Itaccomplishesthisthroughtheconceptofbrokeragewheredataproducers,consumers,andbrokersareabletosearch,buy,andsellIoTdatainademocraticway.Further,asdeviceowners begin tomonetize the IoT data their sensors generate aswellasaccesstotheiractuators,brokerswillemergetoprovidevalue-addedprocessingandanalyticsaswellascontrolservicestofurtherenhancetheIoTdataandmanageactuation’

3. Overview of the ProposedSystem

Thissystemisbasedonthehypothesisthatproperlymotivated,individualswillcontributesensed data to a managed IoT marketplace thatwillmake data fromdifferent ownersavailabletodifferentapplicationdeveloperstocreatevalueforendusers.Ifdeveloperswere tocompensatedeviceownersfortheuseoftheirdata,wecouldcreateanecosystemwheredataowners compete to increase the valueoftheirdatainordertoattractmoreapplications.Weare thereforedesigningamarketplacewheredeviceowners,applicationdevelopers and data brokers can come together to form an ecosystem that goessignificantly beyond today’shomogeneousverticaldeployments.

We refer to our marketplace platform for IoT as I3 (which stands for Intelligent IoTIntegrator).Thefollowingfigureshowsthebasicarchitectureofthisservicesystem.

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Figure 2. Players of IoT Marketplace

Platform AtthecoreoftheI3platformisapublish-subscribemiddlewarethatallowspublishersofdatatoefficientlysendreal-timedatatomultiplesubscribersanywhereviaanintermediatebroker.Theplatformwillallowsensordeviceownerstoadvertisethekindsofdatastreamspublishedbytheirdevicesandindicatebotha)howtheywishtovalue(price)thatdata,andb)conditionsunderwhich theywould allow the data to be used. Similarlytheplatformwillallowactuatordeviceownerstoadvertisethekindsofactionstheirdevicescantakeandindicatebotha)howtheywish topriceaccesstotheactuators,andb)conditionsforaccess. The platform will also allow for application developers to browse or berecommended relevant published data streams to which they could subscribe oractuatorsthattheycouldaccessbyagreeingtothetermsandconditionsofuseofthedataanddeviceaccess(suchaslimitationsonusage,resale,furtherrelease,orinsomecases,oncommercialuse)andbyagreeingtothepaymentorotherincentiveterms.

Theplatformwillalsoprovidemechanismsforbuyerstooffertheirownincentivesfordeviceownerstoparticipateinprovidingthemwithrelevantdataandaccess.Oncetheagreementsfor use of data and payment for it are in place, subscribe requests by the buyer areauthenticatedbytheI3platformandresultinreal-timedatatransfertothesubscriberuponpublishing (theremaybejustoneormultiplereal-timedatatransferstomultiplesubscriberdevices,whateverisallowedpertheagreement).Similarlyonceagreementsforaccesstooneormoreactuatordevicesareinplace,thebuyerisauthenticatedbytheplatformtobeabletosend control signals to the device(s) in real time (for instancethroughsuitably formattedpublishmessagesthatare subscribed to by the device(s)).The I3 platform provides formonitoring and metering of data (how much data did the subscriber get and when)andactuatoraccess(howoftentheactuatorwasactivated,when,andinwhatway)andappliesthe

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payment rules tobill the IoT sensordataoractuator accessbuyeraccordingly.Notethatsensordataandactuatoraccessmaybehandledseparatelyorbundledtogetherassuitable.Inadditiontoapplicationdevelopers,otherusersoftheI3platformmaybedatabrokersthatbuyrawdatastreamsand”sell”refinedversionsofthosestream(e.g.,applyingdatacleaning,de-noising, classification, pattern recognitionorother formsofdataanalyticsandmachinelearning). Yet other users of the I3 platform may be brokers that provide a new wayoralgorithmstovisualize,aggregate,andcontrolactuators.Bothkindsofbrokerswouldprovideadded value in the form of improved quality, features, performance, and convenience toapplicationdevelopersoverandaboverawsensordataandactuatoraccess.

ThesmartnessoftheI3platformconsistsintheeasewithwhichitcanallowbuyers,sellers,andbrokerstointeractwitheachother—therecommendationengineenablesintelligentautomatedmatchingofbuyers and sellers, including theabilitytoeasilyofferandacceptprices/incentivesfrombothsides. Authenticationmechanismsensuretherightsubscribergetsthe rightdataand trustmechanisms suchas thosebasedon ratings and reputationservetoencourageconstructivecreationofvalueforbothparties.

When moving past individual edge IoT networks to connecting very different types ofsensorsandactuatorstothecloudplatformsandapplicationdevelopers,thereisaneedtoidentifyasuitablemiddleware. Here there has been some priorwork, particularlyinthecontextofmiddlewareforevent-basedsystems.Mostsuchpriorworksfocusedonpublish-subscribemiddlewareforrealtimecommunicationsacrossthousandsofdevicesacrosstheInternet.Apopularopen-sourcemiddlewaresystemisMQTT,whichprovidesforpublishersand subscribers to connect to specified named topics on a centralized broker (withadditionalauthenticationpluginsallowingforsecureandconfidentialaccess).TherearealsocommercialPlatformasaService(PaaS)providerssuchasPubNub,whichprovidepublish-subscribeAPI’sforcustomerstodeveloptheirownreal-timeapplications,andtakecareofhosting an authentication-based middleware broker on their own cloud. PubNub alsoprovides for additional functionality by allowing publishers to place pre-specifiedcomputationsontheircloud.ThePubNubprojectoffersanopen-sourceimplementationofpublish-subscribe middleware. These prior solutions assume that the devices andapplicationareownedbythesameentity.

4.DescriptionofIoTMarketplace

ThemainideaofamarketforIoTistoallowownersofsensorsandactuatorstochargeIoTapplication developers for use of sensor-generated dataand for accessof actuatorcapabilities.Thistypeofmarketplacegoesbeyondsupportofimmediatedeviceownersandapplicationdeveloperstoallowanewclassofdata-centricvalueaddedserviceproviderstoemergewheredataprocessing/analysiscanbeprovidedtosellersandbuyersofIoTdatabybrokers.

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To be functional as an effectivemarketplace, I3 incorporates and provides the followingmechanisms:•the sellers topost theiravailablesensorstreamingdataandactuatoraccessproductsalongwithsomeindicationoftheirvalueandconditionsofuse•applicationdeveloperand data/actuator access broker buyers to browse or berecommended relevant sensor data streams/device owners as well as data brokers toconnectwith.Thiscanbeintheformofadirectoryand/orarecommendationengine(seebelow).•incentivemechanisms for sellers to provide useful data and actuators, such asmonetizationperunitquantityofdataoractuatoraccess•routingofreal-timedatafromsensordatasourcestoallconsumers that areauthorizedbasedontheagreementsenteredinto(includingpayments,usagepolicies)•routingofrealtimeactuationandcontrolsignalsfromauthorizedusers(buyers)toactuators• trustandreputationmeasuringmechanismsforuserstorateeachother•meteringandbillingmechanismstoenforcemarketagreements•datanamingandstructuringfunctions,aswellasprivacymechanismstofilterdatabeingroutedthroughthemarketplace•API’sandSDK’sforprogrammaticaccesstovariousfunctionalitiesoftheplatform

ThustheIoTMarketplaceprovides1)efficientsharing/tradingofdata,2)convenientnegotiationandtransactionsofdataandaccesspriceandusagepolicymodels,and3)dataflowcontroltoimplementthebrokerageconcept.

Figure3.ComponentsofIoTMarketplace

Architecture

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InthefollowingsectionswedetailthevariouskeycomponentsoftheIoTMarketplace.4.1UserInterfaces

TherearethreemaingroupsofusersoftheIoTMarketplace:

● Seller:theownerofIoTsensors,actuators:thesearetheproducersofdataorcontrollersofaccesstoconnectedactuateddevices.

● Buyer:thedeveloperofIoTapplicationsthatwishtogainaccesstoIoTsensordata(raworprocessed)oractuatorsinordertoderiveinsightortakeactiononaderivedinsight.

● Broker:anyonewhoprovidesvalueaddedtechnicalservices(suchasdataprocessingandactuatorcontrolmechanisms)andbusiness(mediation)servicestobuyersand/orsellersinIoTStore

In addition, there is an administrator of the IoTdomainthatactsastheoperatorofthemarketplace.Theadministratormay/maynotbeadeviceowner/applicationdeveloperaswell,buthastheabilitytosetup,configure,andmaintainthemarketplace.

SellerInterface:InI3,Sellers(owners)describeandposttheir data and capability (ofsensors/actuators)intheformofmetadataincludinginformationaboutthetypesofsensors,locations,etc., and sampledata ifnecessary.Theymayaddadditionaldataormetadatatoincreasethevalueofthesensorstream,orprovidevalue-addedactuationcontrolcapabilitiesbeyond the rawcapabilitiesofactuators.Theycanalsobrowse/findpostingsbydevelopersand brokers in order tosearch forpotentialBuyers.Sellerssetpricesofdata fordifferentlicensing/salemodelssuchaspossess,reuse,useforlimitedtime,resell,process/re-package,etc.Tosupportdynamicnatureof IoTapplications, I3mayprovidedynamicpricingoptionswith which Sellers can change prices, renegotiatepricesbetweenSellersandBuyers, limitaccessandapprovetheuseoftheirdatatoparticularapplications,classesofapplications,e.g.,non-profitor researchpurposes.Furthermore,Sellersmaybeallowedtochargedifferentialpricestodifferentusers,andratebuyers,whomtheyhaveinteractedwith,toevaluatetheirreputation. Sellersmay also set conditions forusethatbuyersmustagreetoabidebyandpossibly even provide relevant documentation for, before being provided access to therelevant data. In some cases, sellersmay allow access todata/actuatorsbycertainuserswithoutcharginganypriceforit,solongastheuserssatisfycertainconditionsspecifiedbytheseller.E.g.,accesstotrafficsensorsownedbyadepartmentoftransportationinacitymaybeprovided free of cost to an application owned by adepartmentmonitoringenvironmentalqualityinthesamecity.

Thus, through the interface provided by themarketplace, sellers (device/devicenetworkowners)can:

● registerandlogintothemarketplace

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● describe and post their data and capability (of sensors/actuators) in the form ofmetadata including information about types of sensors,location, etc., canprovidesampledata.

● browse/findseller’sandbrokers’posting● setpricesfordata;thismayincludedifferentlicensing / sale models: provide

differenttermsofuse,limittimeofuse,permitresale,allowrepackaging● potentially change prices (or offer dynamic pricing that is automatically adjusted

basedonrelevantfactors)● limit accessandapprove theuseof their data toparticular applications, classesof

applications,e.g., data sales tonon-profitsmayhavedifferentconditionscomparedtocommercialconditions.

● post a form soliciting relevant information about the buyer’s background, or aninvitationtonegotiatetheprice

● chargedifferentialprices(todifferentusers),e.g.,datasalestonon-profitsmayhavedifferentpricescomparedtocommercialprices.

● ratebuyerstheyhaveinteractedwith● append their sensor data with logical data in order to increase the value of the

sensordata.Buyer Interface:On theotherhand,Buyers (applicationdevelopersoranalytics-baseddatabrokers) can describe and post their needs for IoT data and networks, can browse/findSeller’s andBrokers’ posting, canpurchaseandapply forusewhenneeded. Theyhavethepotential to negotiatepriceswithSellers,lease/buydataandservices,andgetaccesstothesensors and/or actuators as allowedby theapplicationwhenpurchased.Tosupportalargescale application which requires data from various sources, Buyers can combinemultiplestreamsof data into their applications seamlesslythroughAPI’s/SDK’sprovidedforthemtouse.Buyers canalso rate Sellers theyhave interactedwithinordertohighlightsellerswithhigh-qualitydataorparticularlyrelevantactuatorsforotherBuyers.Theseratingswouldfeedintomechanismsforevaluatingandbuildingtrust.Thus,throughtheinterfaceprovidedbythemarketplace,buyerscan:

● registerandlogintothemarketplace● describeandposttheirneedsforIoTdataandnetworks● browse/find seller’s and brokers’ posting through directories or a search engine,

wherethepostingsdescribethe sensor/actuators data and metadata, who therelevant owners are, information about pricing, licensing,conditionsforuse,dataandactuationcommandformatsanddata/actuatoraccessmethods

● berecommendedparticulartypesofsensor/actuatorstouse● purchaseandapplyforuseasandwhenneeded● providepaymentandbillinginformation● negotiate,lease,buydataandservices● getaccesstothesensors,actuatorsasallowedbytheapplicationwhenpurchased● combine multiple streams of data into their applications seamlessly through

API's/SDK'sprovidedforthemtouse.

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● ratesellerstheyhaveinteractedwith● providecommentsandsuggestionsforimprovementofthemarketplace

Broker Interface: Brokerscandescribeandpost theircapabilities,browse/findSeller’sandBuyer’sposting,andpurchaseaccesstodataandactuators.Theymaynegotiateserviceprice,lease/buy data and services,manipulate, and resell the enhanced-value data or enhancedactuatorcontroltootherBuyers. Brokers provide value by adding additionaltechnicalservicesandsolutionsforBuyersandSellers,e.g.,addingIoTdataprocessingordataanalyticsoractuatoraggregationandcontrolmechanismswhenSellercannotprovideitandBuyerdoesnot have the capability. In one possible implementation, brokersmaysimplyact asbothbuyersandsellers.Thus,throughtheinterfaceprovidedbythemarketplace,Brokerscan:

● registerandlogintothemarketplace● describeandposttheircapabilities● browse/findseller’sandbrokers’posting● negotiate,lease,buydataandservices,manipulate,andresell● (ifabusinessbroker)findpotentialbuyersandsellers,andofferdiscountsorother

incentivesforthemtojointhemarket,andberemuneratedfortheirownefforts● (ifatechnicalbroker)addadditionaltechnicalsolutionsforbuyersandsellers.e.g.,

add IoTdataprocessingordataanalyticswhichsellercannotprovide.● rateotherusers

The seller, buyer and broker interfaceswill allow for various PricingModels: to providedifferentwaystochargefordataandactuatoraccessandservices,including

- staticpricing:fixed- tieredpricing:fixedbutwithmultipleusecategories- dynamicpricing:changingovertime- negotiatedpricing:activelynegotiatedatthetimeofsale

Admin Interface: Administrative control over the marketplace may be connected to thedomainwhereitisdeployed.Forinstance,anIoTmarketplacesystemthatisassociatedwithacampus,anenterprise,atownorcitywillhavethecorrespondingorganizationadministerit.TheIoTmarketplacewillprovideaninterfaceallowingadministratorsto:

● logintothemarketplaceafterprovidingtherequisitecredentials● setupandconfigurevariousinterfacesandelementsofthemarketplace● Configure,modifyvariouspolicies,such as for posting data and actuator access,

pricing,negotiation,etc.● select and configure relevant hardware and software for themarketplace (such as

computers and routers if any,databasesforregistryandauthorization,middleware

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servers for realtimecommunications,recommendationengine,privacymechanisms,cloudcomputingresources,etc.)

● createwhitelistsorblacklistsofusers,banusers● install andconfigureotherfirewallsasneededforensuringthesecurityofthe

marketplace

4.2Registry

TheIoTMarketplaceincludesaregistry which contains relevant information about allregistered users (buyers, sellers, brokers); all available sensordata andactuator streams;information abouttheirownership,conditionsforuse,andpricing;completedandongoingtransactionsagreementsandpaymentsincludingcurrentlyauthorizedusers.

OwnershipofDataandDevices:torepresentandmanagetheownershipofdataanddevicesthatcanbeaccessedinthemarket,theregistryincludesinformationabout

- physicalownershipofdevicesanddata- accessright(read,write,modify,resale,etc.)- licensing(public,semi-public,private),- ownershipmanagement,allowingforuniqueidentificationofdataanddeviceowners- sensordataandactuatornaming

Informationstoredintheregistryisusedtopopulatethevarioususerinterfaces,e.g.toshowbuyerswhat devices and data streamsareavailable,toidentifytheirpricingandpoliciesforuse.Theinformationintheregistryprovidesnecessaryinputtotherecommendationsystem(see below). The information intheregistryisalsousedtodetermineauthorizationfordatarouting,e.g.toensurethatsensordatafromasellerisonlyavailabletousersthathavepaidfor it. Information regarding ratings and trust in buyers and sellers are also stored in theregistry.4.5RecommendationSystem

In the I3marketplace, Buyerswill seek to find rawdatawhich they can leverage once itisacquired. By accessing these assetsastheypursuetheirownIoTbusinessinitiatives,Buyerswill be able tobetterunderstandtheirdata’svalueandutilizationtherebyallowingthemtoalign their business cost-modelwith their businessrevenuemodel(buyingdataasneeded).Thisnewcapabilitymayalsoallowthemtocreatenewvalue-addedbusinessmodelsthatwillfurther enhance their applications’ value-propositiondrivenbytheselectivepurchasingandaccessingsensors.

ThequantityandvarietyofdatacollectedviaexistingIoTsystems(muchofthatdataisnowheld by third parties) can make it difficult forBuyers to find thedata theywant. This IoTmarketplace has the potentialtoenhancethevalueofthisexistinghistoricdatabyallowingthedataownerstomarkettheirdatainanopenandvibrantdatamarketplace. Basedonthedata owners understandingoftheirdataandcombiningthisdatawithotherneworhistoric

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data,dataownerswillcreatenewopportunitiesforthedatatheyalreadyhold.Byestablishingsuchasystem,userscanmorereadilyandreliablyidentifyandtradeusefuldatasetfortheirownpurposes.

Toidentifydatasetforapotentialtrading,IoTmarketplacemaintainsanadvanceddirectoryserviceforparticipatinguserstosearchfordata,applications,andservices.Directoryrequiresthree fundamental representations: 1) Description of IoT data - physical and technicaldescription of data item such as type, size, location, generation time, access method,ownership, etc., 2) Seller’s requirement (Seller properties) such as what to sell (IoT datadescription)andhowtosell(priceandlicensing),e.g.,public,semi-public,private,accessright(read,write,modify,resale,etc.),and3)Buyer’srequirements(Buyerproperties)suchaswhattobuy(IoTdatadescription)andhowtobuy(priceandlicensing).Themarketplacewillprovideastandardizedwaytohandletheabovedata.Based on the aboverepresentations, I3directoryprovidestwomethodsto identifymatchesamong Sellers’ and Buyers’ interests. A straightforward method is listing: Data should beproperly listed and/or categorized to be easily found by humanuserswith various searchfeatures.Thismightbesufficientinasmallmarket.However,asthenumberofusersgrowsandthe amount of heterogeneous data becomes large,asimple listmaynotbeeffectivewhileautomaticsearchingandrecommendingwillgetmorepracticalbysavinghumanuser’svaluabletime.Consideringthecomplexityofmatchmakingmanydataitems,sellers,buyers,andbrokers,itwouldbehelpfultoprovideasystematicrecommendationforusers.In the I3 context, one can consider three different recommendation scenarios. First,recommendingdataitemstoBuyers.ThisscenariooccurswhenaBuyersearchesfordataitemsprior topurchase,andhencetherecommendationserviceisprovidedtotheBuyer.Sincethedescriptions of IoT data and Seller’s/Buyer’s requirements canberepresentedwith featurevectors,weusethecontent-basedrecommendationapproachforthisscenario,whichutilizesthefeatures of the items to be recommended. In particular, for IoT applications, spatial andtemporal aspectsof the sensorsare important, thusweusetherecommendationalgorithmsfocusing on thesefeaturesbuildingonourexperienceinmanagingspatiotemporaldata. Thesecond scenario is to recommendpotentialBuyers toSellers.WhenaSeller is interested inselling data items, the recommendation servicewouldsuggestsomepotentialBuyerstotheSeller.Thisissimilartothecase1recommendingsimilardataitemstoBuyers.WhenaBuyerwantstobuymoresimilardataitemsafterapplicationisstartedandgrowing,adifferentkindofsearchforsimilardataitemsmightbeneeded.Thisisespeciallyinterestingforhumansensorswhenweassumedynamicnatureofhumanbehaviors(whichwillbedescribedin the following section) and ad-hoc participation (join/leave) of people. For this kind ofrecommendation, we use collaborativefilteringsystemstorecommenddataitemsbasedonsimilaritymeasures betweenusers and/or items. Collaborative filteringworks based on theassumptionthatifuserxinterestsaresimilartouser(s)yinterests,theitemspreferredbyycanberecommendedtox.Theitemsrecommendedtoausermightbethosepreferredbysimilarusers.

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4.6RatingsandTrustForaneffectivemarketplace,itisimportantforallpartiestohavealeveloftrustineachother.Asnotedabove,allusersofthesystemhaveanopportunitythroughtheirrespectiveinterfacestorateotheruserstheymayhaveinteractedwith.E.g.,buyerscanratesellers,sellerscanratebuyers, etc. Input for ratingsmaybeprovided in the formof numerical scores (or stars),responsetosurveyquestions,andqualitativetextualreviews.Theseinputsprovidethebasisforbuildingtrustthroughreputation.E.g.,sellersthatprovidehighqualitydataarelikelytohaveahigherrating/reputation,causingbuyerstotrustthemmore.Othermechanismsforbuildingtrustmaybeincludedinthemarketplace.Theycouldincorporate,forexample,away forbuyers / sellers /brokers todemonstrate thirdpartycertificationswith respect topoliciesormechanismstheyhaveinplacetoensurevalidity,integrity,confidentiality,privacy,security.Userswithsimple,transparent,third-partyverifieddatausepoliciesmaybeabletopresenttheseasawaytobuildtrustaswell.4.7BillingsandPaymentThemarketplacemayincorporatedifferentmechanismsofpayment(e.g.,advancepayment,pay-as-you-go,paymentatpredeterminedintervals)andmodesofpayment(e.g.,creditcard,digital or online currencies, check, etc.). Information from the data and accessmeteringmechanism (seebelow)willbeused in conjunctionwith thebilingandpaymentagreementstoredintheregistrytodeterminehowmuchabuyershouldbechargedandwhen,andhowbilling should take place. The marketplace operator may realize revenue in the formofapercentageorfixedcommissionoffeach transaction or a one-time fee for listing eachsensor/actuator stream, or for user registrations, orsomecombinationof these. Incentivemechanismsofferedbythesellersandtheoperatorsuchasdiscountsandcouponswillalso

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betakenintoaccountinthebillingandpaymentsystem.

4.8RealTimeDataRoutingMiddleware

TheIoTMarketplaceincludesadataroutingmiddlewarethatallowsdatafromsensorstoberouted to authorized applications, and control signalsfromauthorizedapplicationstoberouted to corresponding actuators, inreal-time. Incaseofhighbandwidthorparticularlysensitive data, the middleware may potentially route through pointers to addresses ofrelevant data sources (e.g., URL’s or IP address+portnumbers) insteadoftherawdataitself,allowingforthedataitselftobedirectlycommunicatedbetweenthesellerandbuyerthroughanexternalchannel(suchanapproachmaynotallowfordatametering,provisionofprivacy,and implementationofbrokeringandtrustmechanisms,however,andassuchmaynotbeapreferredinstantiationforthemarketplace).

Themiddlewarecanbeimplemented,forinstance,usingapublish-subscribebrokersuchasMQTT.Inthiscasethedataissentfromrelevantdevicesandsensorsintheformofpublishmessageswithcorrespondingtopicnames, andapplicationsmustsentsubscribemessagesalongwithnecessary credentialstobeconnectedwiththem.Thebrokerwouldcheckwithanauthenticationplugin toensurethatthesubscriberisauthorizedbeforesendingonthepublishedmessages tothesubscriber. AsMQTTallowsforonetomanycommunication,asinglebuyermay implementsubscriptionmessages fromapplications runningonmultipledevices to get the corresponding dataonmultipledevices (assuming it isallowedbythepurchaseagreement).Likewise,themiddlewaremayallowformanytoonecommunicationormany tomanycommunication,allowingmultiple sensordevicesbelongingtothesameowner/sellertosenddatatoonebuyerandapplicationormultipleapplicationsbelongingto the same buyer or even multiplebuyerssimultaneously.Actuatordeviceswouldsendsubscribe messages to the broker,andauthorizedapplicationswouldthenbeallowedtosendcontrolandactuationsignalstothatdeviceintheformofpublishmessages.Themiddlewaremayalsoimplementmechanismsforinteroperabilitywithdifferenttypesofcommunication and middleware systems and IoT applications, such as CoAP, MQTT,Websockets,XMPP,orproprietarysystemssuchasPubNub,RTI,andproprietaryIoTCloudsystems.

Thedata sent through the IoTmarketplacemaybeencryptedendtoend,withthebuyersbeingabletounencryptthedatabasedonkeysthattheyobtainafterpayment/agreementto usage policies. In a different model, the datamay be encrypted from sellers to themarketplaceandfromthemarketplacetotheseller,withunencrypteddataontheplatformallowing for the implementation of sensor fusion, aggregation and other privacymechanisms.

4.8.1DataAccessbeyondReal-TimeStreaming:ForcertainapplicationsitmaybedesirabletoallowbuyerstoaccessnotonlyrealtimeIoTdata but also historical or archivedrepositorydata.Insuchcasesthereal-timemiddlewareorothersoftwaremayallowfortheexchangeofpointersandaddresses to therelevant repository.Themarketplaceoperator

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mayalsochoosetoconfiguretheirownrepositorytostoresucharchivaldata(assumingitisallowedbythecorrespondingseller(s)).

NotethatakeyideaintheI3IoTMarketplaceistoseparateanydatarepositoriesfromtherelationshipbrokering.I3systemscanberunasindependentdatamarketplacesortheycanbeusablebyotherexistingIoTplatforms.

4.9Authorization

Onceadataoractuationproductispurchasedbyabuyer,accesstothecorrespondingdataoractuationaccessstreamisprovidedbytheplatform.Thismaybeimplementedintheformofanentry inanauthorizationdatabase,thatisusedbyanauthenticationpluginconnectedto

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therealtimemiddleware(e.g.,todetermineifaparticularsubscribe(publish)messagefromanapplicationcomesfromabuyerthathaspaidforthecorrespondingsensordata(actuatoraccess) stream).ThroughAPI’s (seebelow),buyersandsellerscanpresenttherelevantkeysand credentials in order to be authenticated by the IoT marketplace middleware. Theauthorizationmayimplementdifferentgranularitiesofaccessandallowcertainuserstoonlyaccessasensorstreamataparticularfrequency.4.10Metering

Therealtimedataroutingmiddlewareinthemarketplaceisinstrumentedsothattheamountofdataoractuatoraccess consumedbyeachapplicationandbuyerisloggedandrecorded,forbillingpurposes.Usageparameterstrackedandmeteredforbillingpurposesmayinclude:

● Data access/trading: amount, frequency, type: (reading/susbscribing orwriting/publishing,unformattedorformatted)

● APIaccess:numberofcallsforplaindataaccess,fordataprocessing,fordataanalysis4.11PrivacyMechanisms

The marketplace may include privacy mechanism in conjunction with the data routingmiddleware.These includeprovidingdifferentversionsof sensordatastreams fordifferentlevelsofauthorization,suchthatuserswithhighestaccesslevelgetoriginal,unfiltereddata,whileuserswithalowerlevelofaccessmaygetanoise-addedordownsampledoraggregatedor anonymized or otherwise filtered data stream. Brokersmaycompetetoprovidesellerswithsuitableprivacyalgorithmsforanonymizingtherawdata.Privacymechanismsmayalsobeapplied toactuation,where thebuyermayonlybeguaranteed thatoneamongasetofactuatorsisactivatedorcontrolledbutnotgivendetailedinformationaboutwhichparticularoneisactivatedorcontrolled.4.12DataFormats

Themarketplacewillallowsellers,buyers,brokerstodotransactionsoverdifferentTypesofData,torepresent,manageandcommunicatedifferentcategoriesofdata

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- structuredsensordata,- structuredactuatordata- variabledata(limitedlengthvideooraudio)- streamingdata(alwaysonvideooraudio)- logicaldata(thatmaybemanuallyenteredbydeviceowners).

The marketplace allows data and actuator access providers (the sellers) to describe thestructure,formatandnamingofthedatafromtheirsensorsinamannerthatwouldmakeitusefulfortheapplicationdevelopers(buyers).Themarketplaceoperatormayalsoconfigureaparticularsetofstandarddataformats (either as an option or required, depending onmarketplaceneeds).4.13 API’sandSDK’s

TheIoTmarketplacewillprovideapplicationprogrammerinterfaces (API) and softwaredevelopment kits (SDK) for application developers, device owners, as well as third-partybrokers.

● TheAPI’sprovideasetof functions and tools for IoT sensor data and actuatoraccessing,processing,analysisforIoTdataandactuatoraccesstradingandapplicationdevelopment.

● The API’s make it possible for applications to communicate with the data routingmiddlewareinanauthenticatedmannerandthroughthattotheenddevices,andfordevicestoauthenticatethemselvesandcontributedataandavailabilityinformationtothemiddleware

● TheAPI’smayalsoprovidefunctionstospecifythestatic/dynamicpricingofdataandprogrammaticaccess(asopposedtographicaluserinterfaceaccessforhumanusers)tothebuyer/seller/brokerinterfaces,ratingmechanisms,recommendationengine

● TheAPI’smayallowsellersandbrokerstospecifyparticularfilteringmechanismstobeimplementedonthemiddleware,toensureprivacyofsensordata

● The API’s may provide for interoperability between different application layerprotocols suchas thosebasedonMQTT,CoAP,WebSockets,XMPP,orevenproprietarycommercialsolutionssuchasPubNub,RTI,etc.

● TechnicalbrokercanpotentiallydeveloptheirownAPIfunctionsandsellthem(asaformofservice) intheIoTmarketplace.Thus,notonlydataaccessandtrading,butalsoanydataprocessingandanalyticscanbeeasilyincorporatedinthestore,whichcanmakethemarketbigger.Forexample,abuyerwantstobuyasetofdatabutthedataneedstobetransformedtoaspecificformbutneithersellernorbuyerknowhowtodoit.AtechnicalbrokerwhohastherequestedtechniquecanprovideanAPItodothetransformation.

● The API’s may provide for automated data formattingand comprehensionofstandardizedandstructuredsensordataandactuatorcommands

● The API’s may provide for encryption of sensor data and actuator control signals(eitherendtoendfromthedevicestothemarketplaceandfromthemarketplacetotheapplications).

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● SDK’simplementing the APIs may be provided for several different programminglanguagesandenvironmentstoenableappdevelopers,deviceownersandbrokerstoquicklyconnecttheirsystemstotheI3IoTmarketplace.

5. Novel Features of IoT Marketplace

Comparingtothestate-of-artIoTsolutions, IoTMarketplaceisfundamentally innovativeinattempting to create a democraticmarketplace for sensor data and actuator access thatbringstogethermultipledeviceowners,applicationdevelopersandbrokersunderacommonplatform.Itsupportsthefollowingnovelfeatures:● Providestheabilitytopost,search,share,andtradeIoT data/services among

stakeholders such as Sensor/Data Actuator Owners (Sellers), Application Developers(Buyers),Brokers(bothbusinessandtechnical).

● It brings together a comprehensive set of mechanisms to facilitate themarketplace,including:1)mechanisms for applicationdevelopers to search,find,browseavailabledatasetsof

relevancetothem(comprehensivedirectories)2)a recommendation system to bring relevant data and devices to the attention of

applicationdevelopers3)mechanismsforincorporatingratingandreputationforownersandtheusers4)mechanismsforapplicationdeveloperstoapplyfordataandactuatoruse(ifnecessary),

agreetolicensingterms,negotiatepricesandaccess5)mechanisms tocontrolthedataflow:itprovidesawaytoproviderealtimestreams,

storearchivaldata,aswellasfacilitateaccesstodataarchivedorstreamedfromotherplatforms

6)mechanisms for metering the use/access of data from sensors and capabilities ofactuators(throughAPIcalls)fromtheapplication

7)mechanisms for potentially anonymizing sellers and users and for privacy-sensitiveprovisionofsensordataandactuatoraccess

8)mechanismsforthebrokertoofferdiscounts/incentivesforownersanduserstojoinandparticipateinthemarket

9)cryptographicmechanismsforprovidingconfidentialityofdata● Pricingmodelsofmarketoperationforbothdataandactuatorcalls:

1)pricingbasedonmetadata,metereddata2) pricingthroughAPIcalls,whetherdatagoesdirectlyfromownertouserorthrough

theIoTmarketplacemiddleware