IoT Services Assist Network Technology

Communication problems when using high performance IoT devices

Security and nursing care services require an accurate understanding of the condition of people and objects. For this reason, these services use IoT (Internet of Things) devices equipped with sensors and communication devices. As these IoT devices are evolving, the amount of data sent by IoT devices may increase. In addition, the increasing demand for IoT devices is expected to lead to an increase in users of the data.

A common way to meet this requirement is for IoT devices to convert the data and send it individually. However, as the number of data destinations increase, the amount of communication data also increases, which limits the number of services that can use the IoT device data.


Next generation network technology to support services using IoT devices

To solve this problem, SECOM Intelligent Systems Laboratory has started joint research with NTT Network Technology Laboratories, to develop "technology that converts and transmits large amounts of data sent by IoT devices according to the service situation."

The data needed for security and nursing care services are created in everyday life, and many device are used near the point of occurrence. Therefore, we propose installing a server in a central office near the IoT devices to convert and transmit the data, improving the network usage efficiency in places where data is heavily used.

IoT Services Assist Network Technology
IoT Services Assist Network Technology

As in the use case above, this technology transforms and transmits the IoT device data according to its purpose. Specifically, it consists of the following functions.

  • A function to distribute data transmission according to latency / reliability requirements (NTT)
  • A function to convert to data size according to usage purpose (SECOM/NTT)
  • A function to temporarily reserve data for later use (SECOM)

These functions ensure that high-quality video data is transmitted to the data center, and lightweight video data can be delivered to staff around the site in real time. SECOM Intelligent Systems Laboratory believes that this technology can contribute to the increase in the number of services that can simultaneously use IoT devices and for staff members to share information and respond correctly.

Press release on this research

2017/12/19 Began Field Trials of Network Assist Function Converting Communication Data According to Purpose