2017 16th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science

Study on the IOT Architecture and Access Technology

Chang-le Zhong, Zhen Zhu, Ren-gen Huang

Foshan University
Foshan, China
E-mail: clzhong@fosu.edu.cn

Abstract—Three-layer architecture of IOT (Internet of Things)
is accepted by many professional scholars and entrepreneurs.
In order to highlight the important role of network in IOT,
and to emphasize the level of IOT intelligent application, this
paper introduces respectively four-layer IOT architecture and
five-layer architecture. Technological implementation methods
of information perception and network access are presented
based on the discussion of information perception and network
access theory in detail. According to the actual demand of hotel
chain industry for improving guests’ living environment, the
paper also discusses the design of IOT application scheme. The
scheme may effectively meet the service requirements of hotel
chain industry.
object communication, person to person communication, and
object to person communication.
From above definitions we can see that communication
subject may be any one person, any one physical object, any
one transaction or any one process. The destination of IOT is
that any person, any physical object, any transaction or any
process can communicate with each other by using any
network in anywhere at any time. Therefore, by "Thingsnet"
insteading of "Internet of Things", the meaning will be easier
to understand.
II. IOT ARCHITECTURE

Keywords-Internet of things; system architecture; hotel chain;

A. Three-layer Architecture
access technology; aplication scheme. So far, the architecture of IOT has not reached consensus,
but three-layer framework is widely regarded. Namely, IOT
I. INTRODUCTION is frequently composed of perception layer, network layer
and application layer, as shown in Figure 1.
Since the Internet of things (IOT) was proposed in 1999,
Application

its connotation has been in continuous development and Intelligent

building
Intelligent
traffic
Intelligent
logistics
Intelligent
Ċ manufacture
layer

expansion. The concept of IOT first came from RFID (Radio Cloud Expert
Frequency Identification) fields. It is considered to be the platforms Middleware Data analysis Ċ system
information network constructed by the radio frequency Special-line Mobile Satellite
Network

identification technology and communication technology. network comm. comm. Ċ Internet

layer

IOT can realize intelligent recognizing, positioning and WiFi Zigbee Ad-hoc Ċ Sensor
network
monitoring of any things through sticking electric label on
each one. However, the development of IOT soon breaks Camera Body Automatic
Perception

Remote
pickup induction recognition Ċ control
through this narrow definition, and extends to the traditional
layer

Timing & Executive

IT fields. The connotation of IOT has been continuously
enriched. Some people predict that the Internet of things will
become third wave of information technology in history.
After a large number of IOT definitions have been
comprehensively investigated, the Internet of things can be
broadly defined as follows[1][2][3.] Providing with information
sensing, transmitting, processing characteristics, one person,
one object, one transaction or one process have perception
ability or being perceived ability by using sensing devices
(e.g. various types of sensors, RFID device, infrared sensor,
global positioning system, laser scanner, etc.). By using of
communication technology network (e.g. wireless network,
sensor network, mobile communication network, Internet,
etc.), one person, one physical object one transaction or one
transaction process are provided with communication ability.
One person, one physical object, one transaction or one
process have information processing ability by making use
of information technology and information equipment (e.g.
information processing technology, visualization technology,
embedded technology, computing device, storage device,
etc.). So, a ubiquitous network can be constructed, which can
realize various types of communications, including object to
Sensor RFID/EPC Positioning
Ċ
device
Figure 1. Three-layer architecture of IOT
(1) Perception layer of three-layer architecture: It is the
lowest layer in three-layer architecture of IOT, and may also
be called the perception and control layer. Perception layer
completes information collection of person, physical object,
transaction or process by use of perception tools. There are
many types of perception tools associated with specific
application of the IOT, including various types of sensors,
transmitters (gas concentration sensor, temperature sensor,
humidity sensor, current transformer, voltage transducer,
etc.), RFID tag/EPC code scanner, timing and positioning
terminal (GPS or CELL), webcam/microphone, human body
infrared sensor, remote measuring and controlling device,
automatic identification equipment, etc. When information
collection is finished, perception layer completes preliminary
processing and packaging of the information. And it also
receives control information coming from network layer for
fulfilling necessary control operations through the executive
devices.

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DOI 10.1109/DCABES.2017.32
 (2) Network layer of three-layer architecture: It is the
middle layer in three-layer architecture, and can also be
called the transmission layer. Network layer transfers the
information which is obtained by perception layer to the
application layer safely, quickly and reliably achieving
communication exchange between the perception layer and
the application layer via various networks. It is worth notable
that data transmission function of network layer includes the
short distance transmission and remote data transmission.
The short distance transmission depends on a wired or
wireless communication network or sensor network, for
example, Wi-Fi, Ad-hoc, Mesh, Zigbee, industrial bus, etc.
The remote data transmission depends on Internet constituted
by all kinds of special networks, mobile communication
networks, satellite communication networks, etc.
(3) Application layer of three-layer architecture: It is the
top layer in three-layer architecture. Application layer
analyzes and processes the information came from the
perception layer and the network layer, realizing the IOT
application. It can be said that the application layer is the
interface between IOT and various type of users (someone
person or someone system), combined with specific needs,
for achieving various intelligent applications of IOT. For
example, intelligent building, intelligent traffic, intelligent
logistics, intelligent manufacturing, vehicle navigation and
security monitoring. Of course, the intelligent applications of
IOT still needs the support of information technology, such
as cloud computing technology, database technology, data
mining technology, middleware technology, multimedia
technology, expert systems, etc.
B. Four-layer Architecture and Five-layer Architecture
As we all know, the network is the key of IOT. Only
when there is the network, any things can be perceived or
become wise at any time and at any place. Therefore, it is
necessary that network layer should be split into the access
layer and the transmission layer according to information
access service or information transmission service in order to
highlight important role of network layer[4][5]. As a result, we
get four-layer architecture of IOT, with perception layer,
network access layer, network transmission layer and
application layer.
(1) Network access layer of four-layer architecture: It
realizes various cognitive tools’ information collecting,
preliminary processing and network accessing besed on
wired or wireless communication network. For examples,
Wi-Fi, Ad-hoc, Mesh, Zigbee, industrial bus, etc.
(2) Network transmission layer of four-layer architecture:
Network transmission layer completes reliable information
transmission in long distances based on Internet composed
by all kinds of special networks, mobile communication
networks, satellite communication networks, etc.
In addition, there are two levels in the intelligent
application of IOT. One is intelligent information processing
level, and it completse intelligent information analysis based
on a public information processing platform to provide the
information source for a variety of intelligent applications.
Another one is intelligent information presentation level, and
it utilizes a variety of information technology to realize the
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interface between IOT and users for associating with specific
application. Thus, we may split the application layer and get
five-layer architecture of IOT, such as perception layer,
network access layer, network transmission layer, application
support layer and application presentation layer.
(3) Application support layer of five-layer architecture:
Based on the support of information technology such as
cloud computing technology, database technology, expert
system, middleware technology and so on, the application
support layer may complete public intelligent analysis and
storage of the information to realize information processing,
sharing and exchanging for various intelligent applications.
(4) Application presentation layer of IOT five-layer
architecture: Application presentation layer uses multimedia,
virtual reality, human-computer interface technology and
other information technologies to build the interface between
IOT and users for realizing various intelligent information
presentation and intelligent information application.
After IOT architecture is split further to reasonable more
layers (four layers or five layers), it can make each layer
relative independence, more flexible and more easy to
implement and maintain for the configuration, and more
suitable to promote the standardization work of IOT.
III. INFORMATION PERCEPTION AND NETWORK ACCESS
With regard to specific application of IOT, it is the
attention focus with the design of information perception and
network access, the selection of application support platform,
and as well as application software development. All these
are also the success keys of IOT application. So, this section
focuses on the realization ways or means of information
perception and network access, i.e. focuses on information
perception layer and network access layer. The hardware
configuration framework is shown in Figure 2.
Special Network/Mobile network/Satellite communication network
Internet
Network
access
Gateway
Perception
terminal
Interaction
terminal
Gateway
Short distance Wired communication channel, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Infrared
transmission communication, Radio frequency communication, etc.
Perception &
Transform
Perception &
Control unit
Perception &
Control unit
Perception &
Control unit
Perception &
Control unit
Perception &
Control Person, Object (Device,Vehicles, Household appliances,
object etc) ,Transaction or Process (Traffic, Production, Marketing etc)
Figure 2. The hardware configuration framework
A. Perception and Control Object part
The perception and control objects may be any person,
any physical object, any transaction or any process which
need to be perceived and controlled. For example, staff
member, production equipment, production line, haulage
vehicle, household electrical appliance, transport process,
management process or marketing process, and so on.
B. Perception and Transform part
According to data types, expression forms and carrier
categories, perception and control unit utilizes appropriate
sensing device to complete data collection, conversion and
utilization. And it still has data storage capability, wired or
wireless short-distance data transfer capability. For some
perception and control objects needing control, perception
and control unit can also receive control command, and
complete the control task with the help of someone actuator
or executive device.
(1) For measuring temperature, pressure, humidity and
other physical quantities, perception and control unit will
transform physical quantity into electrical signal by means of
special sensor. The electrical signal is converted into digital
signal by A/D and then processed, stored and transmitted in
the digital form. By using of technological method for
heating / cooling, compressing / decompressing, humidifying
/ dehumidifying, perception and control unit can regulate
perception and control objects’ temperature, pressure,
humidity, or other parameters.
(2) The RFID tags or barcode tags may be used when
someone special personl or someone special physical
needing to be identified. Perception and control unit
identifies person or object by RFID technology or barcode
scanning technology. The recognizinf results are processed,
stored and transmitted in digital form.
(3) For someone person or vehicle which needs to be
located, perception and control unit may use GPS technology
or CELL positioning technology to coordinate location. And
the location information may be processed, stored and
transmitted in digital form.
As we can see from above three examples, sensing
technology selection, hardware and software configuration
and structure choice of perception and control unit usually
depend on following factors: (a) Types of sampling data; (b)
Sampling rate; (c) Amount of data obtained; (d) Real-time
data sampling or not; (e) Environment and condition and so
on.
Persons, objects, transactions or processes which need to
be perceived and controlled, differ in thousands of ways.
There are many factors that can affect perceptual technology
choice, software and hardware configuration and structure of
perception and control unit. So, many different perception
and control units may be used in the IOT applications, and
they should be adaptively selected according to the practical
application needs.
C. Short distance transmission part
Short distance transmission provides various wired or
wireless signal transmission channel. The information can be
transmitted reliably.
D. Network Access part
The network access mode can be used as follows:
(1) Wired access: Accessing Internet or intranet by cable.
(2) Wireless Access: Accessing mobile Internet or mobile
intranet wirelessly.
The information exchange between network access and
perception and transform unit may adopt following methods:
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(a) point-to-point information transmission by wired or
wireless mode; (b) single point to multi points information
transmission by using PC bus expanding or field bus; (c)
wireless single point to multi points information transmission
via Zigbee or Wi-Fi.
In the practical applications, three parts (perception and
transform, short distance transmission, network access) may
be mutual independence. Each part may be developed into a
separate component, and can be fit together according to
actual needs. Or perception and transform part is combined
with short distance transmission part to get a combination
unit which can realize information perception, transform and
transmission. Or the short distance transmission part is
combined with network access part to get a combination unit
which may realizes information transmission and network
access. Or all three parts (perception and transform, short
distance transmission, network access) are integrated
together to get an incorporated unit which can realize
information perception, information transform, information
transmission and network access.
IV. IOT APPLICATION OF HOTEL CHAIN
A. Requirements Analysis
In recent years, cross-regional hotel chain industries are
developing rapidly, and they attract more and more guests by
virtue of their advantages such as affordable price, proper
position and reasonable services, etc. In order to make
management standardization and service standardization,
hotel chain must apply new technology to improve guests'
living environment. This paper is devoted to the IOT
application in cross-regional hotel chain for improving
guests comfort.
(1) Each room will be equipped with a desktop computer
and Wi-Fi environment for providing guests with Internet
access service. Mobile terminals (PDA, hand-phone, etc.)
may connect to Internet via Wi-Fi wireless access mode. The
door control and fire alarm must be implemented by using
IOT technology, and also including the sense and control of
room devices, such as lighting, curtains, TV, air conditioner,
background music and so on.
(2) Hot water supply should be automatically controlled.
Water temperature, water pressure and water flow all should
be adaptively adjusted.
(3) Information technology may be applied to assist
reservation, check-in, check-out and other services. The hall
entrance control and electronic screens management may be
realized by IOT technology.
(4) The headquarters can manage and supervise branches
hotel distributed all over the country or the world in real-time.
And the headquarters is also responsible for overall operating
and marketing.
(5) All guests can access Internet with the help of
desktop PC, notebook computers, PDA, mobile phones and
other terminal devices for reserving room. Some special
services based on location may be provided for hand-phone
guests. Any early check-in guest can remotely control room
equipment (e.g. early open air conditioner) via network at
anytime and anywhere.
B. Scheme Design
Considering actual requirements for cross-regional hotel
chain, hardware configuration framework of IOT application
scheme is shown in Figure 3 [7][8].
Figure 3. Hardware configuration framework of IOT application scheme
(1) Guest room: The hardware configuration of guest
room is shown at the top-right in Figure 3. The wireless
router provides Wi-Fi access environment for guests, and it
also connects desktop computer and room gateway by
network cable. The room gateway is made to order based on
embedded technology, and it may realize the perception and
regulation of room equipments and facilities based on Zigbee
wireless communications technology. Perceptual information
is sent to management server of branch hotel for processing
and storing through room gateway. The control information
may derive from the management server of branch hotel (e.g.
setting room temperature at 24ႏ). Of course, guest can also
control room equipments and facilities by handheld remote
controller or remotely control via Internet.
(2) Branch hotel: The hardware configuration of branch
hotel is shown at bottom-right in Figure 3. Branch hotel is
equipped with business processing computer, industrial
control computer, large screen control computer and
management server. Business processing operations may be
restricted by identity authentication with password or
identity card. The hot water control system is constructed
based on CAN field bus. The industrial control computer can
realize heating or pressurizing regulation according to actual
need by detecting water temperature, water pressure and
water flow. The display control of large screen is done by a
simple PC, and operators may also manage large screen
system via Internet.
(3) The headquarter: The hardware configuration of
headquarter is shown at bottom-left in Figure 3. Headquarter
staff can access Internet via LAN or Wi-Fi to complete all
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branch hotel's monitoring and managing. All business data
are stored in the database server. The headquarters can make
a variety of network marketing and promotion activities
according to the operation needs. The application software is
deployed on the application server.
(4) Hotel guest: The hardware configuration that can be
used by hotel guests is shown at top-left in Figure 3. Anyone
can access the headquarter website of hotel chain to obtain
room reservation service by using mobile terminals or
desktop computer terminals. Internet access network may be
LAN, 3G/4G mobile communication network or public Wi-
Fi. Via browsing the branch hotel website, hotel guest may
achieve some specific services (e.g. remote control of room
equipments and facilities).
V. CONCLUSIONS
The research results show that current IOT architectures
mostly give only some notes from function perspective. The
abstraction and definition of connection relationship between
functional components has not yet given any conclusion.
Although this paper tries to give standardized definitions of
each layer, but it is far from perfect. Further research and
verification are still needed. With the development of IOT
architecture research and practical design experience, the
definition and description of IOT architecture surely will be
standardized and improved furthermore.
In the scientific planning and studying on IOT basic
theory, it is the inevitable trend of IOT development that
actively promotes the IOT application research. Combining
requirements analysis with technical characteristics of IOT
application, this paper put forward a comprehensive solution
scheme of the IOT application in cross-regional hotel chain.
The scheme may effectively meet the service requirements
of hotel chain industry.
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