Applying web technologies to large scale IoT deployments

Abstract

This thesis investigates the potential for using Web technologies, namely the Document Object Model (DOM), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, to describe and control large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. These are not yet present in the typical home, however, the trajectory of integration between everyday objects and computers suggests that, in future, many homes and commercial spaces will contain thousands of IoT devices. These environments will require complex and scalable orchestration. Web technologies could fulfil these requirements.

While there have been many attempts to integrate the IoT with the Web, thus far none have taken advantage of existing technologies to the degree demonstrated here. Several new approaches were explored, each with the aim of representing IoT devices and their components using the DOM, whereafter, CSS was used both to control and store the state of the DOM. The DOM elements became digital twins of the devices they represented, allowing actions upon the DOM to be replicated across the IoT environment it mirrors. Through applying this approach, there is the potential for Web developers to use their
existing skills to transition from their current role and become Web of Things (WoT) developers with little effort.

The investigation occurred across four experiments, approaching a Web-native solution. The final implementation was tested in a study with experienced Web developers, yielding a positive outcome. Participants showed an interest in the subject matter and quickly learned the skills necessary to implement the technology. Also explored are ideas on how this approach could, in future, be integrated with the social machine of the Web, including with other WoT projects, development communities, and end users.

The proposals within this thesis introduce a new concept for modelling the IoT, and, as such, they put forth many avenues for future research. These include the potential to share curated themes for physical environments; to build complex virtual devices from the components of others; and to allow Web pages to spill out into the physical environment they are viewed within.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Kirk Martinez: orcid.org/0000-0003-3859-5700

ORCID for Erich Graf: orcid.org/0000-0002-3162-4233

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