Integration of Cloud computing and Internet of Things: A survey

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Highlights

  • Vision and motivations for the integration of Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT).

  • Applications stemming from the integration of Cloud computing and IoT.

  • Hot research topics and challenges in the integrated scenario of Cloud computing and IoT.

  • Open issues and future directions for research in this scenario.

Abstract

Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) are two very different technologies that are both already part of our life. Their adoption and use are expected to be more and more pervasive, making them important components of the Future Internet. A novel paradigm where Cloud and IoT are merged together is foreseen as disruptive and as an enabler of a large number of application scenarios.

In this paper, we focus our attention on the integration of Cloud and IoT, which is what we call the CloudIoT paradigm. Many works in literature have surveyed Cloud and IoT separately and, more precisely, their main properties, features, underlying technologies, and open issues. However, to the best of our knowledge, these works lack a detailed analysis of the new CloudIoT paradigm, which involves completely new applications, challenges, and research issues. To bridge this gap, in this paper we provide a literature survey on the integration of Cloud and IoT. Starting by analyzing the basics of both IoT and Cloud Computing, we discuss their complementarity, detailing what is currently driving to their integration. Thanks to the adoption of the CloudIoT paradigm a number of applications are gaining momentum: we provide an up-to-date picture of CloudIoT applications in literature, with a focus on their specific research challenges. These challenges are then analyzed in details to show where the main body of research is currently heading. We also discuss what is already available in terms of platforms–both proprietary and open source–and projects implementing the CloudIoT paradigm. Finally, we identify open issues and future directions in this field, which we expect to play a leading role in the landscape of the Future Internet.

Section snippets

Introduction and motivation

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm is based on intelligent and self configuring nodes (things) interconnected in a dynamic and global network infrastructure. It represents one of the most disruptive technologies, enabling ubiquitous and pervasive computing scenarios. IoT is generally characterized by real world small things, widely distributed, with limited storage and processing capacity, which involve concerns regarding reliability, performance, security, and privacy. On the other hand,

Background and basic concepts

In this section we recall the basics of IoT and Cloud and overview the characteristics essential for their integration.

Cloud and IoT: drivers for integration

The two worlds of Cloud and IoT have seen a rapid and independent evolution. These worlds are very different from each other and, even better, their characteristics are often complementary, as Table 1 shows. Such complementarity is the main reason why many researchers have proposed and are proposing their integration, generally to obtain benefits in specific application scenarios  [18], [19], [20].

In general, IoT can benefit from the virtually unlimited capabilities and resources of Cloud to

Applications

CloudIoT gave birth to a new set of smart services and applications, that can strongly impact everyday life (Fig. 5). Many of the applications described in the following (may) benefit from Machine-to-Machine communications (M2M) when the things need to exchange information among themselves and not only send them towards the cloud  [42]. This represents one of the open issues in this field, as discussed in Section  7. In this section we describe the wide set of applications that are made

Challenges

We have discussed how integrating Cloud and IoT provides several benefits and fosters the birth or improvement of a number of interesting applications. At the same time, we have seen that the complex CloudIoT scenario imposes several challenges for each application that is currently receiving attention by the research community  [22]. This section is devoted to the analysis of such challenges. In the following we first deal with the typical challenges raised by the application scenarios

Platforms, services, and research projects

In this section we describe open source and proprietary platforms for implementing the new vision and paradigms of Section  3 and the new CloudIoT applications of Section  4. Also, we survey research projects focused on the CloudIoT paradigm, which we believe are an example of the research efforts funded in this important area.

Open issues and future directions

Thanks to the analyses we have done in Section  3, in Section  4, and in Section  5, here we resume the main issues related to CloudIoT still requiring research efforts and point out some future directions  [11], [118].

Conclusion

The integration of Cloud Computing and Internet of Things represents the next big leap ahead in the Future Internet. The new applications arising from this integration–we called CloudIoT–open up new exciting directions for business and research.

In this paper, we surveyed the literature in order to identify the complementary aspects of Cloud and IoT and the main drivers for integrating them into a unique environment. Since the adoption of the CloudIoT paradigm enabled several new applications,

Acknowledgments

This work is partially funded by the MIUR projects: PLATINO (PON01_01007), SMART HEALTH (PON04a2_C), S2-MOVE (PON04a3_00058), SIRIO (PON01_02425), and art. 11 DM 593/2000 for NM2 SRL.

Alessio Botta is a postdoc at the Department of Computer Engineering and Systems of the University of Napoli Federico II (Italy). He graduated in Telecommunications Engineering (M.S.) and obtained the Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and Systems, both at University of Napoli Federico II. His research interests are in the area of networking and, in particular, in the area of network performance measurement and improvement, with a specific focus on wireless and heterogeneous systems. Alessio Botta

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    Alessio Botta is a postdoc at the Department of Computer Engineering and Systems of the University of Napoli Federico II (Italy). He graduated in Telecommunications Engineering (M.S.) and obtained the Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and Systems, both at University of Napoli Federico II. His research interests are in the area of networking and, in particular, in the area of network performance measurement and improvement, with a specific focus on wireless and heterogeneous systems. Alessio Botta has coauthored more than 40 international journal (IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Elsevier Computer Networks, etc.) and conference (IEEE Globecom, IEEE ICC, IEEE ISCC, etc.) publications. He has served and serves several technical program committees of several international conferences (IEEE Globecom, IEEE ICC, etc.) and he acts as reviewer for different international conferences (IEEE Infocom, etc.) and journals (IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Network, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, etc.) in the area of networking. In 2010 he was awarded with the best local paper award at IEEE ISCC 2010.

    Walter de Donato received the M.S. degree in computer engineering and the Ph.D. in computer engineering and systems from the University of Napoli Federico II, Italy, where he currently works as a Post-Doc. During his Ph.D. he visited the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, where he founded the BISmark project. Since July 2012 he holds a research and development manager position at Seven One Solution. He has co-authored over 20 international journal (Communications of the ACM, IEEE Network, Elsevier Computer Networks) and conference (SIGCOMM, USENIX ATC, PAM, Globecom,…) publications, and he is co-author of a patent. His current research interests include methodologies, techniques, and distributed architectures for measuring, analyzing, classifying, and monitoring network traffic. Walter de Donato acted and acts as a reviewer for international conferences (IEEE ICC, IEEE Globecom, ACM Conext, etc.) and journals (Elsevier Computer Communication, IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, ACM Computing Surveys, IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, Elsevier Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, etc.). He has received several awards for his research activities: in November 2011 he was awarded the Technologybiz Endorsement Award; in 2012 one of his papers have been awarded the IRTF ANRP (Applied Networking Research Prize), he was awarded the Best Poster award at SIGCOMM and the ETIC AICA-Rotary award.

    Valerio Persico is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (DIETI) of the University of Napoli Federico II (Italy), where he received his M.S. degree in 2013, defending a thesis about a novel technique for topology discovery of IP networks. He is a member of the research group called Traffic, working in the area of computer networks and multimedia and part of the larger COMICS (COMputers for Interaction and CommunicationS), a research group on networking. His research interests fall in the area of networking and of IP measurements; in particular his past and present work focuses on traffic classification, IP topology discovery, IP path tracing, IP alias resolution and cloud monitoring. During his Ph.D. he coauthored several conference publications, being awarded with the Best Student Paper Award for his paper Dont Trust Traceroute (Completely) at CoNext 2013. He also served and serves as peer reviewer for international conferences and journals such as: IEEE Globecom, IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC), IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC), IEEE International COnference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E) and Elsevier Simulation Modeling Practice and Theory (SIMPAT).

    Antonio Pescapé [SM’ 09] received the M.S. Laurea Degree in Computer Engineering and the Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and Systems at University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli (Italy). He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Napoli Federico II (Italy) where he teaches courses in Computer Networks, Computer Architectures, Programming, and Multimedia and he has also supervised and graduated more than 100 among B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students. His research interests are in the networking field with focus on Internet Monitoring, Measurements and Management and on Network Security. Antonio Pescap has co-authored over 140 journal (IEEE ACM Transaction on Networking, Communications of the ACM, IEEE Communications Magazine, JSAC, IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, IEEE Networks, etc.) and conference (SIGCOMM, Conext, IMC, PAM, Globecom, ICC, etc.) publications and he is co-author of a patent. He has served and serves as workshops and conferences Chair (including IEEE ICC (NGN symposium)) and on more than 90 technical program committees of IEEE and ACM conferences. He serves as Editorial Board Member of Journal of Network and Computer Applications and has served as Editorial Board Member of IEEE Survey and Tutorials (2008–2011) and was guest editor for the special issue of Computer Networks on Traffic classification and its applications to modern networks. For his research activities he has received several awards, comprising a Google Faculty Award, several best paper awards and two IRTF (Internet Research Task Force) ANRP (Applied Networking Research Prize). Antonio Pescapé has served and serves as independent reviewer/evaluator of research and implementation projects and project proposals co-funded by the EU Commission, Sweden government, several Italian local governments, Italian Ministry for University and Research (MIUR) and Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE). Antonio Pescapé is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

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