Enabling Efficient Semantic Stream Processing Across the IoT Network Through Adaptive Distribution with DIVIDE

In the Internet of Things (IoT), semantic IoT platforms are often used to solve the challenges associated with the real-time integration of heterogeneous IoT sensor data, domain knowledge and context information. Existing platforms mostly have a static distribution and configuration of queries deployed on the platform’s stream processing components. In contrast, the environmental context in which queries are deployed has a very dynamic nature: real-world set-ups involve varying tasks, device resource usage, networking conditions, etc. To solve this mismatch, this paper presents DIVIDE, an IoT platform component built on Semantic Web technologies. DIVIDE has a generic design containing multiple subcomponents that monitor the environment across a cascading architecture. By monitoring the use case context, DIVIDE adaptively derives the appropriate stream processing queries in a context-aware way. Using a Local Monitor deployed on edge devices, situational context parameters are measured and aggregated. The Meta Model allows modeling these measurements, and meta-information about devices and deployed stream processing queries. Through the definition of application-specific Global Monitor queries that are continuously evaluated centrally on the Meta Model, end users can dynamically configure how the situational context should influence the window parameter configuration and distribution of queries in the network. The paper evaluates a first implementation of DIVIDE on a homecare monitoring use case. The results show how DIVIDE can successfully adapt to varying device and networking conditions, taking into account the use case requirements. This way, DIVIDE allows better balancing use case specific trade-offs and achieves more efficient stream processing.