Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
An Industrial Internet Consortium and oneM2M™ Joint Whitepaper

Authors
Amar Deol (Huawei), Ken Figueredo (InterDigital Inc.), Shi-Wan Lin (Yo-i), Brett Murphy (RTI), Dale Seed
(Convida Wireless), Jason Yin (Huawei)

Editors
Shi-Wan Lin (Yo-i) and Ken Figueredo (InterDigital Inc.)

Contributors1
Josef Blanz (Qualcomm), Omar Elloumi (Nokia), Rajive Joshi (RTI), Peter Klement (XMPro), Sam Bhattarai(Toshiba), Atte Lansisalmi (Nokia) and Chuck Byers (IIC)
2019-12-12

1

Individuals who have provided valuable comments and inputs that have substantially improved the quality of this whitepaper.

-i-

1 Context for Collaboration .................................................................................................. 12 Organizational Overviews ................................................................................................. 2
2.1
2.2

Overview of the IIC .............................................................................................................. 2
Overview of oneM2MTM....................................................................................................... 3

3 Alignment Between IIRA and oneM2M Architecture Frameworks ...................................... 6
3.1
3.2

IIC’s IIRA .............................................................................................................................. 7
oneM2M Architecture and Common Services Layer .............................................................. 9
3.2.1
Common Service Layer Functions ..................................................................................... 11
3.3 Mapping Between IIRA and oneM2M ................................................................................. 12
3.4 Summary of Archecture Approaches and Alignment ........................................................... 15

4 Convergence and Interworking........................................................................................ 16
5 Future Directions ............................................................................................................ 20
5.1
5.2
5.3

IIC Plans ............................................................................................................................ 20
oneM2M Plans .................................................................................................................. 21
Conclusions and Next Steps ............................................................................................... 22

6 Legal Notices................................................................................................................... 23- ii -

Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
This white paper demonstrates how two leading organizations in the Internet of Things (IoT) can work
together towards a common purpose of a robust, interoperable, flexible and efficient Industrial Internetof Things (IIoT). We first introduce the two organizations, the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) andoneM2MTM, then illustrate their technical approach to IoT solutions, demonstrating how bothorganizations’ thought leaders envision the growth of IoT through collaboration.

1 CONTEXT FOR COLLABORATION
Many in IoT recognize that few companies can provide complete solutions by themselvesbecause many components and areas of expertise are involved. Consequently, collaboration
among companies and organizations in the ecosystem is a necessary part of any IoT strategy.
Collaboration extends beyond technology and solution suppliers and users of IoT solutions. It
applies also to standardization bodies and industry alliances. Several regional standards
development organizations (SDOs) chose to collaborate in forming oneM2M 2 to develop andmanage the technical standards to enable IoT solutions. The objective was to drive global scalein standards development and avoid standards balkanization.
Similarly, in consumer IoT, supplier-sponsored initiatives such as the AllSeen Alliance and theOpen Connectivity Foundation merged their efforts into a single body representing a wider rangeof supplier interests. Another example is the merger of the IP for Smart Objects (IPSO) Alliancewith the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) with their joint focus on a communications stack, data
model and device-management solutions for constrained IoT devices.
This paper provides some historical context on a liaison between oneM2M and IIC, explores areasof commonality between each other’s work and identifies under-addressed technical areas andstandardization gaps that, once resolved, would speed up the pace of commercial adoption for
IoT solutions among providers and users alike. It builds on the discussion points covered in an
inaugural meeting in February 2018, notably the respective histories and publications of eachorganization. It describes a comparative analysis between architecture frameworks andarchitecting methodology put forward in the IIC’s Industrial Internet Reference Architecture(IIRA), oneM2M’s architecture and its three-stage standardization procedure.
The commonalities discovered from this analysis set the stage for future collaboration to explore
new requirements for interoperability across multiple dimensions including interworking
between subsystems in factories, large machines and shared work environments (such asbuildings, cities, logistics value-chains and transportation networks). We aim to share knowledge
on replicable IIoT deployments and to leverage the IIC’s well-run testbed program to identify new
requirements and feed these into the oneM2M standardization and future-release roadmap.

2

oneM2M: Standards for M2M and the IoT: http://onem2m.org/

2019-12-12-1-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things

2 ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEWS
The IIC and the oneM2M Partnership Project have distinct identities based on their origins and
IoT market-development objectives. We briefly describe the history, structure and operating
model for each organization, and reference key accomplishments, industry resources and plans
for future initiatives.

2.1

OVERVIEW OF THE IIC

Founded in March 2014, the IIC is the world’s leading organization that serves to transformbusiness and society by accelerating the adoption of IIoT. It accomplishes this by enabling
trustworthy industrial internet systems, where systems and devices are securely connected andcontrolled to deliver transformational outcomes across multiple industries. These industries
include healthcare, transportation, energy, public domain infrastructures and manufacturing.
IIC’s membership includes technology innovators, vertical market leaders, researchers,
universities and government organizations. Its goals include:
•
•
•
•
•

driving innovation through the creation of new industry use cases and testbeds for realworld applications,defining and developing the reference architecture and frameworks necessary forinteroperability,
providing inputs to and influencing the global development standards process for internet
and industrial systems,
facilitating an open forum to share and exchange real-world ideas, practices, lessons andinsights andbuilding confidence around innovative approaches to security.

IIC provides an environment for its members to connect with a global IIoT community and gain
experience and foster partnerships. Clearly, the cross-pollination of activities benefits members
directly and the industry at large.
The IIC has established a thriving testbed program in which the innovation and opportunities of
the industrial internet—new technologies, new applications, new products, new services, newprocesses—can be initiated, thought through, and rigorously tested to ascertain their usefulness
and viability before coming to market. The IIC has 26 active testbeds as of the date of thispublication.
IIC members collaborate to deliver architectures, frameworks, requirements for standards andmore. Since its founding, IIC has published a sequence of globally influential technical reports:
The Business Strategy and Innovation Framework (BSIF)3 provides a high-level identification andanalysis of issues that an enterprise needs to address to capitalize on the opportunities in IIoT.
3

https://www.iiconsortium.org/BSIF.htm

2019-12-12-2-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
The Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA)4 is a blueprint for building industrial internet
systems. It outlines a standards-based open-architecture framework template and methodology
for designing an IIoT system.
The Industrial Internet Security Framework (IISF)5 provides guidance on IIoT security. It uses theconcept of trustworthiness to address the entwined nature of security, safety, reliability,
resilience and privacy in IIoT systems and communities.
The Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework (IICF)6 provides a comprehensive treatment ofconnectivity as a means of building interoperable IIoT systems.
The Industrial IoT Analytics Framework (IIAF)7 outlines requirements and concerns for analytics
for IIoT systems and recommendations for meeting the requirments and addressing them.
The Industrial Internet Vocabulary Technical Report8 specifies a common set of definitions for
effective communication within the industrial internet ecosystem.
At the end of 2018, the IIC joined forces with the OpenFog Consortium (OFC) to advance edge
computing in IoT deployments. IIC also collaborates with major IIoT-related organizations
including standards organizations, open-source organizations, other consortia and alliances(either technology- or industry-focused), certification and testing bodies and government entities
or agencies through its liaison programs. One of these is with oneM2M. IIC currently has 52
liaison relationships globally.
An example outcome from these collaborations include the IIC and Plattform Industrie 4.09 jointly
published Architecture Alignment and Interoperability: An Industrial Internet Consortium andPlattform Industrie 4.0 Joint Whitepaper, which details the mapping and alignment between the
two leading IIoT reference architecture models, the IIRA and the Reference Architecture Modelfor Industrie 4.0 (RAMI 4.0).10
This IIC and oneM2M joint whitepaper is another example of a successful collaboration.

2.2

OVERVIEW OF ONEM2MTM

oneM2M brings together several major ICT SDOs around the world, such as ARIB (Japan), ATIS
(North America), CCSA (China), ETSI (Europe), TIA (North America), TSDSI (India), TTA (S. Korea)
4

http://www.iiconsortium.org/IIRA.htm

5

https://www.iiconsortium.org/IISF.htm

6

https://www.iiconsortium.org/IICF.htm

7

https://www.iiconsortium.org/industrial-analytics.htm

8https://www.iiconsortium.org/vocab

9

Industrie 4.0 describes the combination of production methods with state-of-the-art information and communication
technology, while Plattform Industrie 4.0 is the German cross-industry and government initiative to support the implementationof Industrie 4.0. (http://www.plattform-i40.de/I40/Navigation/EN/Home/home.html).

10

https://www.vdi.de/fileadmin/vdi_de/redakteur_dateien/gma_dateien/5305_Publikation_GMA_Status_Report_ZVEI_Referen
ce_Architecture_Model.pdf

2019-12-12-3-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
and TTC (Japan). 11 These SDOs, referred to as “Partners Type 1”, share the objective ofdeveloping common standards for a common service layer that applies across different industry
segments.
The Partners Type 1 have acted strategically to achieve a much-needed convergence in the IoT
standards landscape. Instead of developing IoT standards individually and for their local markets,
they agreed, in 2012, to collaborate through the oneM2M partnership project. To promote
oneM2M, they facilitate the development and publication of oneM2M specifications as their own
standards.12 This ensures a global and institutional reach for oneM2M. In 2018, the ITU formally
adopted the oneM2M specifications, including a full international recommendation 13 for theoneM2M architecture.
Over 200 member organizations
in oneM2M

Figure 1 oneM2M member organizations (Source: oneM2M)

Currently, there are 200 active members in oneM2M. All share the vision of specifying a common
service layer, a layer that sits between applications and networks and exposes functions neededby IoT applications across different industry segments.
Several fora and industry alliances working on IoT-related topics also joined oneM2M. They play
an important role in shaping oneM2M specifications and ensuring a coordinated approach. These

11

ARIB - Association of Radio Industries and Businesses - www.arib.or.jp/english/arib/about_arib.html
ATIS - Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions - www.atis.org
CCSA - China Communications Standards Association - www.ccsa.org.cn/english/
ETSI - European Telecommunications Standards Institute - www.etsi.org/
TIA - Telecommunications Industry Association - www.tiaonline.org/
TSDSI - Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India - www.tsdsi.in/
TTA - Telecommunications Technology Association - www.tta.or.kr/English/
TTC - Telecommunication Technology Committee - https://www.ttc.or.jp/e/index.html
12

oneM2M latest specification drafts http://onem2m.org/technical/published-drafts

13

ITU-T Publication Y.4500.1 : oneM2M Functional Architecture - https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Y.4500.1/en

2019-12-12-4-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
are referred to as Partners Type 2, and the category presently includes GlobalPlatform, which
creates and publishes an international standard for enabling digital services and devices to betrusted and managed securely throughout their lifecycle.
The process of developing oneM2M specifications is open and contribution-driven, as distinct
from proprietary approaches. This means that the industry at large can influence the direction of
the specifications and market deployments. Moreover, oneM2M maintains liaisons with otherstandards initiatives and industry fora, such as the IIC and Plattform Industrie 4.0, to ensurecomplementary approaches.
Architecturally, oneM2M’s common service layer functions as a horizontal, abstraction layer
between IoT applications (i.e. business logic) and the communications networks that provide
connectivity to end-point devices and sensors (i.e. actuation and data capture). The benefit ofthis abstraction layer is that users of the oneM2M specifications do not need to master integrated
stack technologies to design, deploy and manage multiple IoT applications or IoT applications indifferent industry verticals.
The common service layer offers a set of common service functions, e.g. device management,
registration and security. It horizontally joins the middle layers of several separate,
heterogenous, vertical IoT solutions. The sharing of common capabilities at this middle layer
ensures re-usability and delivers economies of scale.
Another aspect of oneM2M’s horizontal architecture is that it lays the foundations for cross-silointeroperability. Individual IoT solutions can share data and resources through common service
layer functions such as resource discovery and semantic interoperability. As a result, application
developers, solution providers and data suppliers can share data between application silos andreduce their dependence on single-vendor solutions.
oneM2M follows a use-case-driven approach to IoT standardization with real-world scenariosthat serve to derive requirements for the common service layer. By doing so, it can address theneeds of multiple use cases including the ones that the group did not anticipate at the time ofthe specification, thus building an element of future-proofing in the standardization process.
To enhance the stability of the oneM2M specifications and shorten time to market, oneM2M
hosts multiple interoperability and hack-a-thon events every year. Engineers can test theirproducts against each other, in accordance with agreed test specifications, and participants canlearn more about oneM2M. These events are a significant asset in validating oneM2M’s technicalspecifications and their implementation across multiple solution providers.
In addition, the Global Certification Forum (GCF) manages a oneM2M global certification
program.14 oneM2M certification through GCF ensures oneM2M solution providers maintain the

14

GCF and TTA officially sign agreement for oneM2M global certification solution at MWC19
https://www.globalcertificationforum.org/news/gcf-tta-sign-onem2m--agreement-at-mwc19.html

2019-12-12-5-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
proper functionality and compliance with the oneM2M specifications and that oneM2M
solutions can interoperate with one another.
The full suite of oneM2M15 technical specifications, including different releases, is available fordownload at www.oneM2M.org.

3 ALIGNMENT BETWEEN IIRA AND ONEM2M ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORKS
Emphasizing cross-industry versatility and interoperability, the IIRA and its companion
documents provide a framework and a methodology for business-value-driven system design. It
recognizes that data analytics and AI plays an essential role in enabling end-to-end optimizationof connected industrial systems from equipment to enterprise information systems. Its broad
applicability provides a common foundation for industries to communicate important sharedarchitectural concerns and solutions to address them. As a common blueprint for designing
specific architectures, it enables interoperability and encourages reusability of IIoT technologies
across industrial sectors.
oneM2M technical specifications address the need for a common service layer for Machine-toMachine (M2M) and IoT applications, across different vertical domains, via a horizontal platformarchitecture. oneM2M’s three-layer architecture comprises applications, a common services
layer (middleware) and networks. oneM2M standardizes the interfaces between these layers.
This provides a secure means for connecting data ‘producers’ and data ‘consumers’. By
abstracting complex interfaces, oneM2M aims to simplify life for application developers. The
applicability of oneM2M specifications to different vertical domains enables interoperability
between applications and connected devices as well as across application and organizationalsilos.
Despite their different origins and approaches in addressing IoT and IIoT architectural challenges,
IIC and oneM2M share common objectives in helping industries achieve interoperability andreusability. They share a common goal of reducing the complexity and the cost of designing,developing and deploying IoT and IIoT systems, shortening the time-to-market and time-tovalue-creation cycles.
The IIRA and oneM2M architectures build on largely the same technological foundations: a new
set of communication connectivity technologies (e.g. web and RESTful services, Data Distribution
Service (DDS), OPC UA) and computational technologies, (e.g. cloud computing, big data andmachine learning). Consequently, they share several architectural elements that map to eachother; there are also differences in focus and approach. We next analyze those commonalities
and differences, then discuss their architectural complementarity along with recommendations
on how to best leverage the strength of each in conceptualizing IIoT systems.

15

The term “oneM2M” can refer to the organization that develops the oneM2M standard and to the standard per se.

2019-12-12-6-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things

3.1

IIC’S IIRA

The IIRA provides a high-level architectural framework and methodology that enables rapid
realization of interoperable IIoT systems. It provides guidance for their development byidentifying and highlighting important architectural concerns, concepts and patterns that can beapplied within and across industrial sectors. Interoperability issues within and across IIoT systems
can be identified and resolved for the broadest set of IIoT applications.
Technology vendors can use the IIRA concepts and methodology to build interoperable systemcomponents that address the broadest possible market. System implementers can use the IIRA
as a starting point to shorten system development by deploying reusable, commercially available,or open-source system building blocks to reduce project risk, associated costs, and time-tomarket. It is applicable to almost all industrial sectors, including manufacturing, transportation,energy, agriculture, healthcare and public infrastructure. Ultimately, the IIRA helps reduce thecost of design and operations by creating a community with a common language.
The structure of the IIRA contains architectural concepts, vocabulary, structures, patterns and amethodology to address important common architectural concerns. It defines an architecture
framework through a carefully defined standards-based framework and common terminology
by adapting architectural concepts, constructs and approaches from the ISO/IEC/IEEE 420102011 Systems and Software Engineering—Architecture Description16 standard. The IIRA clarifies
how this framework is used to create the content of the reference architecture itself and how
the reference architecture is to be applied to create concrete IIoT architectures.
Architectural concerns are identified and classified into four viewpoints, per the ISO/IEC/IEEE
42010-2011 Systems and Software Engineering—Architecture Description, then the concerns areanalyzed systematically and resolved (see Figure 2). The results are documented in models andother representations in the respective view as the content of the architecture description.
Those viewpoints are:
The business viewpoint identifies stakeholders and their business vision, value and objectives ofan IIoT system.
The usage viewpoint describes how the IIoT system is expected to be used to deliver the intended
business objectives.
The functional viewpoint focuses on the functional components and the structure in which they
are interrelated and interact with each other and with external elements in the environment insuch a way as to support the intended usages.

16

ISO/IEC/IEEE: “ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011 Systems and software engineering -- Architecture description”, 2011,
http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=50508

2019-12-12-7-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things

Figure 2 IIRA Architecture viewpoints and views

The implementation viewpoint determines the technologies needed to implement functional
components, their communication schemes and their lifecycle procedures.
The IIRA offers a comprehensive system analysis in each of the viewpoints. For example, businessdecision-makers, plant managers and IT managers can use the business viewpoint to help thembetter understand how to drive IIoT system development from a business perspective.

Figure 3 Functional domains, crosscutting functions and system characteristics

For another, the functional viewpoint defines the functional domains (Figure 3) that are mostimportant to consider in an IIoT system and clarifies the concepts and relationship between them2019-12-12-8-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
and the crosscutting functions that need to be made available across many of the system
functional components.
For example, system functions need to be connected so they can interact with each other tocomplete functionality at the system level. Therefore, connectivity is considered a crosscutting
function.
The IIRA also defines the concept of system characteristics as system properties and behaviors ofan IIoT system resulting from those of its constituent sub-systems and the nature of theirinteractions with each other, the context and the environment in which they operate. An
example of important system characteristics is trustworthiness, which encompasses safety,
security, privacy, reliability and resilience—a concept well developed in the IISF. It also examines
how the IIRA functional domains map to a deployment continuum ranging from edge to cloud toreflect the latest thinking in IIoT architecture.
The IIRA is incrementally aggregating knowledge and guidance as technologies develop, andsuccessful best practices are described.

3.2

ONEM2M ARCHITECTURE AND COMMON SERVICES LAYER

Many IoT applications are deployed as silos in a vertical solution stack. At its simplest, thisinvolves one application (e.g. asset tracking, condition monitoring, inventory tracking logic) using
one communications network to interact with connected devices or sensors.
This arrangement does not lend itself to operational scaling or resource reuse. Consider an IoTapplication that requires a device management capability, for example. If the device
management function is implemented for a narrowly defined use case this could easily prevent
its reuse for a second or third IoT application. The same logic applies to other service enablers
necessary for the deployment and management of IoT applications.
To solve the problem, the oneM2M architecture applies a horizontal model based on a common
services framework. Examples of common services include communications management, device
management and security functions. The architecture also means that devices and their data areboth discoverable and accessible to more than a single parent application.
Applications can be built using oneM2M-capable devices sourced from multiple suppliers,
reducing the risk of vendor lock-in. This allows solution providers to build only once and reusemany times. This is a significant advantage when a lack of standardization inhibits permutations

2019-12-12-9-Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
across multiple technology vendors, service providers, organizational boundaries and IoTapplications.
Pipe Model (vertical)

Horizontal Model (based on common services layer)

One Application, One Network, One(or few) types of Device and Point-toPoint Communications

Many Applications share common services and network infrastructure supported byMultipoint Communications

Application

Application

Application

Application

Common Services
Layer

Common Services Layer

Communication Network(wireline, wireless )Gateway
Local
Network
DeviceCommunication
Network #1

Representation of ‘Things’(including semantics)

Communication
Network #2

Gateway

Local Network

DeviceDeviceDeviceDeviceThingsFigure 4 Overview of oneM2M Horizontal Architecture (Source: oneM2M)

In addition to standardizing the common services layer, oneM2M includes specifications for enddevice and gateway entities. This makes it possible to deploy native-oneM2M solutions,comprising oneM2M compliant end-devices communicating with one or more oneM2M
platforms. It is also possible to cater for deployments that contain a mix of oneM2M andproprietary devices. This involves the use of an interworking proxy gateway to manage nononeM2M devices communicating with a oneM2M platform.
The oneM2M standards are a horizontal common services layer IoT platform that allows
applications within a domain (e.g. a city, factory or transportation hub) to communicate
effectively, reliably and securely. The standard supports a federated model of operation so thatthese benefits accrue to applications from various previously siloed domains (e.g. to managetransportation and environmental sensing on road networks or, utilities and wellness in offices
and households).

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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things

3.2.1 COMMON SERVICE LAYER FUNCTIONS
From a functional perspective, oneM2M has defined fourteen common service functions (CSFs).
These relate to network connectivity, device security, transport protocols, content serialization,
IoT device services and management and IoT semantic ontologies.

Service Layer
Registration

Discovery

SecurityGroup
Management

Communication
Management

Data
Management &Repository

Subscription &Notification

Registration
DeviceManagement

Application &Service
Management

Network Service
Exposure

Location

Service Charging& Accounting

Semantics

Transaction
Management

Figure 5 oneM2M Common Service Layer Functions (Source: oneM2M)

Each of these oneM2M services lets application developers focus on application-specificfunctionality (e.g. turning a switch on or off), while relying on abstraction techniques to mask theunderlying technology-specific details, by allowing bindings to different communications stacks
and protocols such as HTTP, CoAP and MQTT. For example, the switch might use a fixed or Wi-Fi
network, a CoAP or HTTP transport. It might use a JSON or XML serialization technique, an Open
Connectivity Foundation (OCF) or thread service enablement, or an ontology based on Smart
Appliances REFerence (SAREF) or W3C’s Thing Description.
Finer-grained capabilities underpin each service function as illustrated in the case of device
management, security and application and service management functions.

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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
Authorization
DeviceTopology
Management

SecureCommunication

DeviceFirmwareUpgradeDeviceConfiguration
DeviceDiagnostics

Service Layer

Registration

Discovery

DataManagement &Repository

Security

Subscription &DeviceNotification
RegistrationManagement

Location

Dynamic
Authorization

Service Charging& Accounting

Privacy Policy
Manager

Enrollment &Provisioning

Group
Management

Communication
Management

Application &Service
Management

Network Service
Exposure

Semantics

End-to-End
Security

SoftwareManagement

SoftwareConfiguration

Transaction
Management

Figure 6 Illustrative Features of oneM2M Common Service Layer Functions (Source: oneM2M)

In keeping with a philosophy of leveraging existing standards rather than re-inventing them,oneM2M complements existing and proven security technologies to address IoT security
challenges. It provides a common set of security capabilities to secure IoT devices andapplications and prevent and mitigate attacks. This is made possible by an abstracted set of
security-related APIs to simplify security for devices and applications.
oneM2M is a constantly evolving standard with a strategic roadmap designed to address new IoT
requirements. This is made possible by the common service layer concept, which was conceived
to accommodate new service functions.
oneM2M works to a release cycle to standardize new service functions. It emulates the cellularindustry’s 3GPP standardization model, to address new requirements and evolving technologies
through progressive releases.

3.3

MAPPING BETWEEN IIRA AND ONEM2M

The IIRA decomposes the core functions of an IIoT system into functional domains andcrosscutting functions, as illustrated in Figure 3. The functional domains focus on major system
functions that are generally required to support generic IIoT usages and to realize generic IIoT
system capabilities. The crosscutting functions need to be made available across many of thesystem functional components.
The crosscutting design approach is central to oneM2M technical standards. They underpin asoftware framework for linking IoT applications to a set of value-added services relating to:
network connectivity, device security, transport protocols, content serialization, IoT device
services and management and IoT semantic ontologies. These set of services let application
developers focus on application-specific functionality (e.g. turning a light switch on or off) by
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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
abstracting out the complexity and heterogeneousness of the underlying technologies. They
allow IoT developers to interact with diverse IoT devices and technologies from various vendors
without the risk of locking into a single technology or single-vendor solution. All of these valueadded services are provided in the common services layer, as shown in Figure 4.
From the functional point of view, the IIRA functional domains (Figure 3) can be mapped to thehigh-level functions in the oneM2M horizontal architecture (Figure 4). This mapping is depicted
in Figure 7.

Figure 7 IIRA functional domain and oneM2M high-level service mapping

Here is a more detailed functional mapping of the oneM2M common service layer functions(Figure 5).
•

•
•

•

Functions in the business, information and application domains, along with cross-cutting
functions industrial analytics and intelligent and resillent control (neither has mappinglines) in the IIRA are considered functions in the oneM2M Application layer.
The security functions considered in the IIRA System Characteristics corresponds to thesecurity function in the oneM2M service layer.
Functions in the operations domain and in the distributed data management in the
crosscutting functions in the IIRA map to functions in the oneM2M common services
layer. Specificically, functions in the IIRA operations domain map to registration,
discovery, device management in oneM2M common services layer. Functions belong to
the IIRA distributed data management map to the oneM2M data management andrepository.
Functions in the connectivity in the crosscutting function in the IIRA map broadly in boththe common services layer and the devices (layer) across the network spans in the
oneM2M horizontal achitectue. The IIRA connectivity functions directly map to

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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things••

semantics, communication management, network service exposure and transaction
management.
Functions in the control domain and the physical systems in the IIRA map to thosebelonging to things in the one M2M horizontal layer).
Other functions in the oneM2M services layer not mentioned above may not be described
directly in the IIRA or they belong to its lower layer functions.

A common IIRA architecture pattern as described in its implementation viewpoint consists ofsolution elements arranged in three tiers—edge, platform and enterprise. In the illustration
below, the edge tier comprises an edge gateway communicating with three devices via a
proximity network. Another example of an edge tier capability is an edge gateway that
aggregates data from connected sensors and data sources in a vehicle. The edge tier interacts
with platform tier components via an access network. Data and control pathways are completed
via a service network that links the platform and enterprise tiers.

CSE

CSE

AE

AE

AE
AE

CSE

Cross-domain
Interoperability
Edge
Platform
Enterprise
Tier
Tier
Tier
Edge
Platform
Enterprise
AE
AE
CSE
Tier
Tier
Tier
AE

CSE

AE

Figure 8 IIRA 3-tier architecture pattern mapping to oneM2M architecture elements
The latter contains domain applications such as asset tracking or condition monitoring, forexample, and a user interface.
Superimposed in this illustration are oneM2M implementation components. There is an
Application Entity (AE) for each connected sensor and data source. AEs implement a standardized
application service logic within individual devices, gateways and sensors. AEs provide astandardized interface to manage and interact with applications.
The implementation of oneM2M’s common services layer resides in Common Services Entities(CSEs), in a distributed architecture. Each CSE represents an instantiation of oneM2M’s common
service functions. It is feasible to embed CSE functionality in a gateway to place common services
closer to the edge of an IoT deployment. A complex IoT deployment may involve several gateway
CSEs interoperating with a cloud-based CSE, such as the one mapped onto the IIRA platform tier.
Among other features, CSEs control when communications occur, accounting for the timesensitivity of communications and the economics of data transfer. For example, in non-time2019-12-12- 14 -

Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
critical applications, it is possible to accumulate data for efficient transfer at a later time. Thismay be especially relevant where power consumption is an operational priority.
To complete the solution chain, there finally needs to be an AE for the domain application in theenterprise tier, allowing it to interact with its associated edge devices and sensors.
The use of oneM2M AEs and CSEs provides a standardized way for devices and sensors tofunction in a network-agnostic manner with their associated domain applications. It hides thecomplexity and heterogeneity of network usage from applications, thus simplifying theimplementation burden for application developers. To achieve this, it takes account of thespecific capabilities and constraints of each available underlying network (fiber, satellite, cellular,
proximal wireless, etc.) and makes the best use of them in the context of higher layer applicationneeds. A configurable policy manger allows designers to define which applications and users canaccess which devices and sensors, making it possible to share data across application silos.
The main portion of the illustration above focuses on a single application. However, thedistributed use of oneM2M elements means that multiple three-tier architecture
implementations can interact with one another. Thus, a domain application in one deployment
can discover and interact with a connected device or sensor associated with other applications.

3.4

SUMMARY OF ARCHECTURE APPROACHES AND ALIGNMENTThe IIRA defines a standards-based architecture framework template and methodology that
identifies and highlights common and important architectural concerns, concepts and patterns,
that can be applied within and across different industrial sectors. Viewpoints make it a businessvalue-driven, concern-resolution architecting framework to design end-to-end IIoT systemarchitectures across industrial verticals.
oneM2M is a global standard that defines a common service layer implementing a set of common
services required by IoT systems, irrespective of the industry domain in which it is applied. These
services abstract and isolate technology complexities for IoT application developers letting themfocus on building, deploying and commercializing their applications.
The business viewpoint is a unique consideration in the IIRA not commonly found in IIoT
architecture constructs, including oneM2M. IIoT designers who leverage the oneM2M common
service layer may benefit from the analysis of business concerns as described in the IIRA businessviewpoint.
From a functional perspective, the IIRA functional viewpoint describes functional domain andcrosscutting functions covering IIoT systems end-to-end, while oneM2M defines a set offunctions common across industrial verticals as middle layer services that hide the complexity inthe devices layers and bridge the applications to the devices through service abstraction.
From an implementation point of view, there are ample synergies in the functional definition
between the IIRA and oneM2M. System developers can follow the IIRA methodology andarchitecture patterns and use the oneM2M common service to support the architecture
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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
patterns. For those functional components that are not covered by the oneM2M common service
layer, they can be naturally considered as application layer components in oneM2M anddeveloped for the specific IIoT system. The set of oneM2M common services can be shared bydifferent industrial verticals, enabling interoperability across these verticals, which is a goal that
the IIRA also strongly seeks.
From a system-usage analysis perspective, the IIRA usage viewpoint provides a way to analyze
how the system is to be used to achieve its objectives. A oneM2M use case describes who is to
use the system, and how to benefit from the system. A oneM2M use case is therefore an
instantiation of an IIRA usage viewpoint.

4 CONVERGENCE AND INTERWORKINGThe introduction of machine-to-machine solutions into industrial IoT applications is progressingin three phases. In the past, industrial control systems typically employed a master/slave
architecture. Currently, many local IoT applications on factory floors and in complex machines
are linking multiple proximal networks through cloud-based data aggregation and supervisory
control systems. But now, as the IoT market matures across consumer and industrial sectors, IoT
applications will employ distributed architectures. Moreover, as large-scale deployments andinteroperability (e.g. cross-vendor, cross-silo, cross-organizational) become necessary, solutionarchitectures will depend on new and standardized enablers that interlink multiple sub-systems
to peers and to central cloud systems.
Master/Slave

Proximal  Cloud

Distributed

Yesterday

Today

Tomorrow

Figure 9 Trends in the evolution of M2M to IoT (Source: oneM2M)

The IIC developed the Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework to provide guidance and bestpractices for developing IIoT systems with interoperability between applications, subsystems anddevices across a distributed, interworked system of systems. It describes a connectivity referencearchitecture to address this interoperability challenge, as illustrated below.
Fundamental to the successful use of the connectivity reference architecture is selecting a coreconnectivity standard to bridge applications and devices in an IIoT system. The IICF identifies
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potential core connectivity standards and provides detailed assessment templates to evaluate
connectivity technologies so that an IIoT system can choose a core connectivity standard thatbest aligns with its connectivity needs.
To qualify as a core connectivity standard, there must be standard mappings (i.e. bridges) to theother core connectivity standards as referred in the IICF. Interoperability between subsystems
using different core connectivity standards is provided via core gateways that implement thesestandard mappings. This limits the number of core connectivity standards, reducing complexity,
while still covering the needs of IIoT systems across both functional domains and industries.
The gateway functions described above may be simple bridges converting data and protocols
between connectivity core standards, or they may include more complex edge computing
functions. Edge processors can perform analytics, data reduction, artificial intelligence, machinelearning, security processing, storage and many other functions. They not only convert between
core connectivity standards, but also beneficially process the data as it passes through thegateway functions.
Endpoints
Domain-SpecificConnectivity Technology

Gateway to a Connectivity
Core Standard

Connectivity
CoreStandards
Core Gateways

Figure 10 Standardized gateway for end-point interoperability (Source: IIC IICF)

The IICF recommends that system architects select a framework-layer standard for coreconnectivity. A framework-layer standard (e.g. DDS, OPC-UA, Web and RESTful Services) provides
syntactic interoperability, i.e. the ability to exchange data. It standardizes the format of the data
being communicated and how that data should be communicated and provides more data
handling and communication management capabilities over lower-level transport-layer
standards (e.g. MQTT, CoAP, HTTP). The IICF provides detailed assessments of several
framework-and transport-layer standards to help system architects choose the best connectivity
technology for their needs.
The IICF addresses syntactic interoperability, but not the data or information model standards
needed to address what the data means, or its context (is it a temperature or a pressure
measurement?) i.e. semantic interoperability. The IIC is working on information model guidance
for future publication. oneM2M, however, currently addresses the need for standard information
models and bridging or translating between different framework layer standards.
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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
The standardization roadmap for oneM2M envisages providing a protocol abstraction layer on
top of multiple connectivity technologies. It will complement and interwork various proximal
industrial communication technologies (e.g. DDS, OPC-UA, WirelessHART, IWLAN) to the broader
internet.
This permits the use of established standards from the fixed-network, mobile-network andinternet sectors (left-hand side of illustration) to be applied in support of applications from theindustrial sector, smart homes and eHealth, for example. It maximizes the re-use of establishedindustry standards.
The following lists cross-industry and industry-specific protocols that oneM2M supports or plans
to support.

Fixed

Device Mgmt.

OMA DM

MobileOMA LWM2M

Constrained
IETF CoAPOASIS MQTTIETF Web socket

Bindings
Network

ref. arch, testbed

enableBBF TR069

ref. architecture
enableinterwork

enable/interworkETSI M2M

interworktransferbindingbindingrequirements
requirements

IETF HTTP

ITU-T SG20

interwork/implementbindingbinding

3GPP MTC, V2X

transfer

interwork

Interwork

publication

Compatible

Industry

IIC, AIOTIIEEE P2413

DDS, OPC-UA, Modbus, OSGi

AllJoyn/OCF
HGI

Home

OSGi

Continua

Health5GAA

VehicleW3C WoT
SAREF

Semantics

Figure 11 oneM2M role as an interoperability hub across industries and industry-specific protocols(Source: oneM2M)
BBF TR069

Techical specification of the Broadband Forum thatdefines an application layer protocol for remotemanagement of customer-premises equipment
connected to an Internet Protocol networkhttps://www.broadbandforum.org/resources?resource_tags=tr-069

OMA DM

Device management protocol specified by the Open
Mobile Alliance (OMA)

http://openmobilealliance.org/wp/index.html

OMA
LWM2M

Lightweight M2M is a protocol from the Open Mobile
Alliance for M2M or IoT device management.

http://openmobilealliance.org/wp/index.html

IETF CoAP

Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a specialized
web transfer protocol for use with constrained nodes
and constrained (e.g., low-power, lossy) networks

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7252

OASIS
MQTT

Lightweight publish/subscribe reliable messaging
transport protocol suitable for communication in
M2M/IoT contexts where a small code footprint isrequired and/or network bandwidth is at a premium

https://www.oasisopen.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=mqtt

IETF Web
Socket

The WebSocket Protocol enables two-way
communication between a client running untrusted code

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6455

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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
in a controlled environment to a remote host that has
opted-in to communications from that code.
IETF HTTP

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an applicationlevel protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia
information systems.

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616

3GPP MTC,
V2X

3GPP family of wireless communication technologies
that include specific support e.g. for V LTE support of
Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) services and, for MachineType Communications (MTC)

https://www.3gpp.org/specifications

ITU-T SG20

ITU-T Study Group 20: IoT, smart cities and communities

https://www.itu.int/en/ITUT/about/groups/Pages/sg20.aspx

AIOTI

Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation

https://aioti.eu/

IEEE P2413

IEEE Draft Standard for an Architectural Framework for
the IoT

https://standards.ieee.org/project/2413.html

DDS

Data Distribution Service (DDS) for real-time systems is
an Object Management Group M2M standard for
scalable, real-time, dependable, high-performance andinteroperable data exchanges using a publish–subscribe
pattern

https://www.omg.org/spec/DDS/1.0

OPC-UAOPC Unified Architecture is a machine to machinecommunication protocol for industrial automation
developed by the OPC Foundation.

https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/specificationsunified-architecture

ModbusModbus is a serial communications protocol that has
become a de facto standard communication protocol forconnecting industrial electronic devices.

http://modbus.org/specs.php

OSGi

The OSGi Alliance is a worldwide consortium oftechnology innovators that advances a proven andmature process to create open specifications that enable
the modular assembly of software built with Java
technology

https://www.osgi.org/about-us/

Alljoyn/OCF

Open source software framework that makes it easy for
devices and apps to discover and communicate witheach otherhttps://openconnectivity.org/

HGI

The Home Gateway Initiative is nonprofit tradeorganization to discuss the key specifications andstandards of residential gateways, also known as home
gateways

http://www.homegatewayinitiative.org/

ContinuaContinua Design Guidelines specify an end-to-end ICT
framework for personal connected health solutions
based on recognized open standards

https://www.pchalliance.org/about-continua

5GAA

The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) is a global, crossindustry organisation of companies from theautomotive, technology, and telecommunicationsindustries (ICT), working together to develop end-to-end
solutions for future mobility and transportation services

http://5gaa.org/about-5gaa/about-us/

W3C WoT

W3C’s Web of Things Working Group aims to develop
initial standards for the Web of Things, with the goals ofcountering IoT fragmentation; reducing development
costs; lessening investor and customer riskss; andencouraging exponential growth in the market for IoT
devices and services.

https://www.w3.org/WoT/

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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
SAREF

The Smart Appliances REFerence (SAREF) ontology is ashared model of consensus that facilitates the matchingof existing assets (standards/protocols/datamodels/etc.)
in the smart appliances domain

https://sites.google.com/site/smartappliancesproject/home

5 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
In light of their respective organizational goals, the IIC and oneM2M will continue to foster thedevelopment of IoT and IIoT markets. Following the joining of forces between the IIC and OFC,
the IIC will expand its effort to clarify distributed computing at and near the cyberphysicalboundary of IIoT systems and continue to provide an ecosystem for the advancement of the IIoT.

5.1

IIC PLANSThe IIC continues to provide clarity and guidance to the market around IIoT systems. There are
multiple initiatives to provide further detail around IIoT security and distributed computing inedge environments. The IIC recently released Managing and Assessing Trustworthiness for IIoTin Practice, 17 the IoT Security Maturity Model 18 and a Practitioner’s Guide for that Security
Maturity Model. 19 Additional security guidance and frameworks are forthcoming as well as a
Trustworthiness Framework. The IIC also released a white paper on edge computing andcombined with the OFC to more fully address the promise of edge computing.
The IIC continues to support multiple member teams in their testbed projects and will expand its
initiatives with industry consortia, standards organizations and other liaisons. The integration ofseveral testbeds from the OFC drives an expanded portfolio of testbeds addressing this criticalarea of edge computing with further resources from academia and Asia-Pacific members.
As for liaisons, this joint white paper is an example of liaison initiatives to provide additional
market clarity. With this joint paper with oneM2M, the IIC is providing additional market clarityand expects this joint work to continue with additional integration and guidance.
To organize and simplify access to the various documents and results of the IIC’s work, the IIC
Resource Hub20 is a new interface to IIoT industry knowledge and expertise. This knowledge andexpertise are represented in IIC documents, testbed insights, toolkits, demos and relationships
with standards and industry groups around the world. The IIC expanded this new interface to thelibrary of knowledge by providing web-based tools guiding user through the analysis and planningof their own IIoT project and maturity assessment, referencing IIC resources and providing
actionable intelligence.
17

https://www.iiconsortium.org/pdf/Managing_and_Assessing_Trustworthiness_for_IIoT_in_Practice_W
hitepaper_2019_07_29.pdf
18
https://www.iiconsortium.org/pdf/SMM_Description_and_Intended_Use_2018-04-09.pdf
19https://www.iiconsortium.org/smm.htm
20https://www.iiconsortium.org/resource-hub.htm

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Advancing the Industrial Internet of Things
IIC’s various technical groups are working on a set of technical reports, whitepapers and bestpractices to further enrich its technical offerings to the IIoT community, including Industrial
Internet Networking Framework, Digital Twin Interoperability, Implementing Edge Computing,
Trustworthiness Framework, Software Trustworthiness in Digital Twins, Communications andConnectivity Security Best Practices, Industrial Artificial Intelligence, Characteristics of IIoT
Information Models, Implementation Aspect: IIoT and Blockchain and Industrial Distributed
Ledger, etc.

5.2

ONEM2M PLANS

oneM2M functions as an iterative standardization body, releasing successive updates to its
technical specifications to incorporate new requirements. Release 1 of the standard, issued in2015, defined a minimum deployable horizontal common service layer. In 2016, oneM2M
delivered Release 2 of the technical specification. This enabled interworking capabilities withother IoT proximal network technologies, an enhanced security framework and services fordescribing and discovering devices and data based on semantic descriptions. Towards the end of
2018, oneM2M issued its Release 3 technical specifications. Some of its key features includes
integration capabilities between oneM2M and 3GPP standards to deliver service quality
capabilities at mobile-industry scale. As detailed below, members of oneM2M’s Technical Plenary
are working on Release 4 of the standard and incorporating feedback from Release 3
implementation and testing activities.
Currently, work is underway on Release 4 to address edge computing, 3GPP interworking,vehicular applications and semantic interoperability amongst other topics.

Figure 12 oneM2M Feature Summary by Release (Source: oneM2M)

In parallel with its standardization efforts, oneM2M inaugurated a certification process tofacilitate market adoption.
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5.3

CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS

Following an introductory workshop, a sub-group formed of IIC and oneM2M members agreed
to share information about their respective organizations across the member base and the wider
IoT community. This lays the groundwork for future collaboration as both organizations share acommon purpose to foster the market for IIoT solutions.
With a focus on practical deployment tools, this document describes and compares the IIC’s andoneM2M’s architectural approaches. This analysis highlights strong alignment, favoring
implementation methodologies, reusable components and scalable solutions. These aresupported by a toolkit of best practices and technical standards for organizations involved in thedesign and deployment of IIoT systems.
The process of exchanging information and furthering the IIC-oneM2M liaison has deepened
knowledge across the two institutions and identified common areas for future collaboration. The
priority topics for joint exploration and evaluation include the following areas:
•
•
•
•
•

IoT security approaches and solutions,enablers of semantic interoperability, including potential frameworks for cross-domain
data models,
new requirements emerging from industrial IoT use-cases,
edge, fog and distributed computing approaches and solutions andnetworking and connectivity solutions and best practices.

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6 LEGAL NOTICES© 2019 jointly owned by oneM2M Partners Type 1 (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TIA, TSTDI, TTA, TTC)
and Industrial Internet Consortium (the “IIC”), a program of the Object Management Group, Inc.
(OMG). All rights reserved.The copyright extends to reproduction in all media.
The owners of the copyright in this Document hereby grant you a fully-paid up, non-exclusive,
nontransferable, worldwide license (without the right to sublicense) to use, copy and distribute
this Document (the “Permission”), provided that: (1) both the above copyright notice andinformation, and a copy of this Permission paragraph, appear on any copies of this Document
made by you or by those acting on your behalf; (2) the Document is used only for information
purposes in connection with IIC’s and oneM2M’s missions, purposes and activities; (3) the
Document is not publicly posted on any network computer, publicly performed or displayed, or
broadcast in any media and otherwise resold or transferred, for commercial purposes; and (4) no
modifications are made to this Document unless made or expressly authorized by the copyrightowners.
This limited Permission is effective until terminated by written notice of the joint copyrightowners.

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