Joined by End Users, the uCIFI Alliance Promotes Open Source Wireless Networking Solutions To Free Customers from Dependence on Proprietary Technologies
February 20, 2019 – During Mobile World Congress, the international industry and end-customer Alliance, will announce the release of the uCIFI data model that will provide interoperability and interchangeability between IoT devices from various suppliers on any IoT network, starting with LoRaWAN, NB-IoT or wireless mesh.
Despite multiple IoT industry alliances and specification consortia, cities and utilities are still suffering from the lack of full interoperability when it comes to connected solutions including smart streetlights, smart waste, smart parking, smart environments, smart water or smart grids. The main reason for this is the absence of a common way to describe IoT device’s attributes and values (such as temperature, dimming levels, active control programs, presence detection, filling levels, and noise levels).
For example, there is no agreed data format for smart streetlight dimming controllers from different LoraWan based solution suppliers. This is also the same for bin filling levels and parking occupancy sensors. Each solution provider has its own proprietary way to describe device’s attribute therefore preventing solutions to be fully interoperable at the device and network level.
Eliminate dependence on suppliers, a strategic challenge for cities
As a result, cities are left with two options, either be dependent on one single vendor during the next 10 years, or spend a fortune in supervision platforms, integration services and vendor-specific gateways to decode the data produced by each supplier’s device. The uCIFI data model will enable complex smart city devices to interoperate with each other to support many smart city use cases.
Based on a very pragmatic approach, the Alliance’s technical workgroup first listed all the smart city and smart utility use cases to be supported, and transformed them into a list of IoT devices and device attributes within a data model that can be adopted on any constrained IoT communication network.
A data model developed in open source to accelerate adoption by IoT device providers
These attributes were modeled using the most common standardized protocols for constrained IoT networks including Light Weight M2M (a.k.a. LwM2M) commonly use on LoRaWAN, NB-IoT and wireless mesh IoT networks. The uCIFI data model will then be released as an open source document as well as a resource on the LwM2M open repository, in order to significantly accelerate adoption among IoT device suppliers.
In addition, the Alliance worked on both device-to-cloud as well as device-to-device mechanisms to enable the uCIFI data model to support more complex, yet very common, services, such as multicast grouping, sensor-to-actuator dynamic control and calendar-based control program to standardize standalone mode operations that are key to resilient smart city models.
The uCIFI data model, as well as all the Alliance’s deliverables will be open sourced by the end of 2019. In the meantime, the uCIFI data model is only accessible to members of the Alliance. Membership is open for cities and utilities (free of charge) and any industry player who is committed to creating more open and interoperable smart city and smart utility solutions.
To know more about uCIFI and its data model, join at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 26th at 10am on Kerlink’s booth (8.0C11).
To get more information about uCIFI and to join the alliance, go to https://ucifi.com or send an email to contact@ucifi.com
About uCIFI
In uCIFI, “u” stands for Utilities. “CI” stands for Cities. “uC” refers to micro-controllers in IoT devices. “CIFI” reminds WIFI, the interoperable home wireless network on which many devices from many competing suppliers can interconnect, like uCIFI aims to be for IoT wireless communication networks for Smart Cities and Utilities. Finally, uCIFI refers to UNIFY because uCIFI’s objective is to provide a unified data model whatever the underlying wireless network is: LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, open source long-range MESH and others in the future.
