Navigating the complexity of building IoT systems: Embracing collaborative solutions for success

By Dr. Soumya Bhattacharya, Executive Vice President IoT, AI/ML, Data- Creative Synergies Group

Challenges of building complex IoT systems
The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a fundamental trend underlying the digital transformation of business and the global economy. According to McKinsey, by 2030, IoT could enable close to USD12.6 trillion globally, including the value captured by consumers and IoT products and services. But as the technology evolves, building complex IoT systems becomes a subject to grapple with.

Businesses now face a daunting challenge: Seamlessly integrating new technologies into existing IoT systems without dismantling what already works. This hurdle has spurred a surge of interest in Collaborative IoT (C-IoT), an approach that maximizes the potential of current IoT ecosystems.

For instance, while deploying IoT for facility management, incorporating elements like interconnected HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and security systems becomes complex. With C-IoT, each aspect can be managed more efficiently, helping businesses unlock the true potential of their systems and processes.

The solution: Collaborative IoT or C-IoT
C-IoT solves most complex IoT challenges in an elegant, scalable architecture that draws strength from the pre-existing IoT ecosystem. Be it a bus-based hierarchical system or a cooperative graph-based system, businesses can benefit equally from both based on their requirements.

As the name suggests, bus-based systems involve multiple components connected to a central bus. This central bus acts as a communication pathway through which data is transmitted. Businesses that can benefit from bus-based hierarchical C-IoT architectures typically include those with structured and centralised operational processes. New devices or components can be easily added at lower levels of the hierarchy without disrupting the system’s overall functioning.

Cooperative graph-based C-IoT architectures are particularly suited for businesses and industries that require dynamic, decentralised, and interconnected systems to optimise operations, drive innovation, and deliver value to customers. In this type of C-IoT architecture, the system is structured as a graph, with interconnected nodes representing the various components of the IoT ecosystem. The graph-based structure offers flexibility and adaptability, allowing nodes to dynamically join or leave the network.

The role of digital twins in C-IoT platforms
In the context of IoT, digital twins are increasingly important as they enable organisations to monitor, analyze, and simulate the behavior of physical assets in real-time. Essentially, digital twins provide a digital counterpart to physical entities, allowing for better understanding, optimisation, and decision-making.

Each digital twin may represent a specific device, subsystem, or process within a larger IoT ecosystem. By federating these digital twins, organisations can achieve a holistic view of their entire system, enabling better coordination and collaboration among interconnected entities. This, combined with a hierarchical ontology, helps define the structure of the digital twin models, allowing for consistent representation and interpretation of data across different levels.

A federated digital twin model can solve the problem of collaboration in static and quasi-static scenarios (situations where the environment or conditions change relatively slowly or remain stable for extended periods) to a large extent. For a large class of connected cyber-physical systems, a federated digital twin with a defined API interface is a better option for businesses to build complex C-IoT systems.

Federated digital twin models: The winning solution
Any reasonably sized asset, be it a machine tool, a building, an off-road equipment, a mobile robot, or a medical device, has multiple component suppliers. These physical subcomponents are often complicated and require very detailed knowledge to build and understand. It is the reason why many enterprises struggle to successfully transition from IoT pilots to capture value at scale.

Irrefutably, in such scenarios, federated digital twin models become a key tool as they allow for the aggregation of data from diverse sources without compromising on privacy or efficiency. By decentralising data processing and analysis, federated digital twins streamline system control and enhance scalability. An extensive IoT system should be concerned with its subcomponents behavioral data and not the sensor’s raw telemetry.

Federated digital twins are well-suited for large-scale IoT deployments because they allow for the distributed management and coordination of interconnected devices and systems. Each component or subcomponent has its federated digital twin, which can be onboarded, initialised, and trained independently of a central system. These subcomponents often operate independently with their own IoT platform following the multi-tenant model. This approach gives rise to the framework of everything as a service. They share the behavioral data, not telemetry, through their public interfaces. IoT systems are more than data-gathering machines. These systems can control intelligent and connected subcomponents. This shift in perspective is crucial in highlighting the importance of designing IoT systems to facilitate efficient communication, collaboration, and control among interconnected devices.

Designing and implementing federated digital twins and complex IoT systems requires expertise in various domains, including engineering, software development, communication technologies, and sensor technologies. Businesses usually don’t have to take on these challenges alone. By leveraging the support of digital innovation solution providers, businesses across sectors such as manufacturing, supply chain, retail, infrastructure management, transportation and others, can build the desired C-IoT environments based on their preference and business needs.

The B2B segment is the largest value creator for the IoT segment, with projections claiming that by 2030, 65% of IoT’s potential will be accounted by B2B applications. With China becoming a global IoT force by being a manufacturing hub and technology supplier, there is awealth of scope for tech-forward countries such as India to attain similar levels of acclaim in the IoT segment shortly.