OpenStack-based Highly Scalable IoT/M2M Platforms

Abstract

The IoT/M2M platforms are emerging to provide a common service layer for various types of new IoT applications. It is foreseen billions of IoT/M2M devices will soon be connected to those IoT/M2M platforms hosted in the cloud. In this research we propose a highly scalable OpenStack-based architecture for IoT/M2M platforms. Our unique contribution consists of leveraging the advanced functionalities of OpenStack to introduce a master node specifically designed for IoT/M2M scalability in the cloud and a load balancing queue node cooperating with the master node for fair distribution of incoming traffic among platform nodes. Using four different types of IoT/M2M applications: smart meter, Bluetooth tags, eHealth, and video, we show that compared to LBAAS and Heat that are OpenStack native load balancing and scalability functions, in most cases our proposed system is capable of achieving the fastest response time and the lowest computational cost with acceptable tradeoff of more energy consumption.