**3. Overview of IoT**

Similar to many booming computer technologies, the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted a lot of hype and when it comes to what IoT is, stakeholders have a variety of interpretations. Such interpretations often are biased towards the interests of those stakeholders who wish to emphasise their own assets of IoT [23]. In the same vein, lift manufacturers are announcing products which claim to use IoT technology. However, IoT is more than a network of internet-connected devices. It entails compliance with a set of essential features. So what is IoT?

The International Telecommunication Union [24] defined IoT as:

'A global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies'.

For a general overview, Atzori et al. [25] groups the defining features of IoT into three main categories called 'visions'. IoT is the intersection of those three visions:


Taking a slightly more abstract approach and distancing the network infrastructure, Raggett [26] of the W3C organisation looks at the challenges and the risk of fragmentation of the IoT and proposes a 'Web of Things'


The 'Applications' here will be specific to a business domain or discipline and the 'Shared Semantics' need to be described by a formal definition, such as a UML domain model [27].

In a detailed discussion of IoT in the building transportation industry [28], the key conclusion was that the successful integration of building transportation systems (particularly lifts) into the IoT requires a standard definition of the semantics of any information exchanged between inter-operating devices (the 'things'). It is the third, 'Semantics-oriented' vision where the greatest value can be added that is specific to the domain of lift operation because doing so is key to fulfilling the requirement of the IoT in 'enabling advanced services'.

We can conclude that integrating lifts into the IoT is not simply a matter of establishing communications between devices over the internet, nor is it achieved just by using Internet messaging protocols. It is both of these characteristics plus the ability to run applications that exchange information in a way that is meaningful to all the things involved in the exchange i.e. there is a shared definition of the semantics.

A feature of the current 'human Internet', which is now taken for granted and which needs to be replicated for the IoT, is that of search and discovery facilities. In support of this, services in the IoT must be discoverable so that devices which have never communicated with them before can use these services and vice-versa that services can discover devices. The significance of this ability is illustrated by imagining the ensuing disruption if it were necessary, when installing a new lift system, to make manual updates to all the systems with which the lifts might eventually communicate.

### **4. Standards**

#### **4.1 Generic standards**

Successful interoperation of systems from different suppliers is dependent on the faithful adherence to standards at all levels. In particular, the IoT relies on many standards and standard services e.g. Wi-Fi, IPv6 addressing (required to address every individual connected thing uniquely), http and web-service protocols, timeof-day services, load-balancing, cloud computing, etc.

As ETSI says on its website [29].

'Smart objects produce large volumes of data. This data needs to be managed, processed, transferred and stored securely.

The use of standards


The more things are connected, the greater the security risk. So security standards are also needed to protect the individuals, businesses and governments which will use the IoT'.

#### **4.2 Domain-specific standards**

Interoperating applications that are specific to a business domain must be able to understand the domain-specific information contained in any data that is shared via the network. This is because there is a machine (rather than a human who can make inferences and interpretations) in both the generating and consuming roles. A lexicon or dictionary of the relevant terms and the rules for their use, usually in the form of a schema, is required to support such applications.

*Standard Elevator Information Schema: Its Origins, Features and Example Applications DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92552*

*4.2.1 Existing standards specific to the lift systems domain*

Some standards specific to lift systems do exist, and continue to be enhanced, describe –

the active state of the dynamic components of a group of lifts:

	- 1) BSR/ASHRAE 2016 [31] and
	- 2) National Standards Committee of the People's Republic of China [15].

and the component parts:

**-** BIM (proposed, not published)

However, there is a real need for an agreed and adopted formal schema to describe the day-to-day operational characteristics of a system of lifts, which is independent of the underlying electrical connectivity and network protocols. Such independence is a key requirement for successful integration of lifts into the IoT.

#### *4.2.2 Standard elevator information schema*

The Standard Elevator Information Schema (SEIS) [32] (and complimentary Escalator schema) was developed in 2003 [33], from earlier work, and uses standard software development tools and methods to model the information and operation of a lift system. Whilst it certainly describes the data normally associated with remote monitoring (car and landing call registration and cancellation, car movement, floorposition, and door state, etc.) the SEIS is much more comprehensive, including elements of processed information such as demand profiles, car journey plans and energy consumption. This level of detail enables the development of sophisticated applications and services, against a common standard, which therefore do not have to concern themselves with, for example, the intricacies of individual car control. The current state of development of IoT applications for lifts makes it thoroughly appropriate that such a standard should now be widely adopted throughout the Building Services industry.
