A distributed control plane for the internet of things based on a distributed hash table

Abstract

As any other communication system, the Internet of Things (IoT) requires a functional control plane. However developing such control plane in a centralized way presents a number of challenges given the multiple stakeholders, the huge number of devices distributed worldwide, their limited connectivity, and specially that most IoT devices are battery-powered and thus must be sleeping most of the time. This paper explores the possibility of employing a distributed control plane for the IoT that leverages the intrinsic scalability and flexibility of peer-to-peer Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs). In particular, it proposes using a so-called “command mailbox” resource to remotely control sleeping sensors and actuators in an asynchronous way, while also solving important issues such as device bootstrapping and security.