Internet of Things: Foundations and Applications

INFO 290 | Spring 2017 | School of Information, UC Berkeley

Instructors: Simon Mayer, Florian Michahelles, and Bryan Morgan

Lecture: Thursday 9:00–11:00am, 205 South Hall
Lab: Tuesday 5:30–7:30pm, 205 South Hall

Course Abstract

This course considers at the Internet of Things (IoT) as the general theme of real-world things becoming increasingly visible and actionable via Internet and Web technologies. The goal of the course is to take a top-down as well as a bottom-up approach, thereby providing students with a comprehensive understanding of the IoT: from a technical viewpoint as well as considering the societal and economic impact of the IoT.

By looking at a variety of real-world application scenarios of the IoT and diverse implemented applications, the various understandings and requirements of IoT applications become apparent. This allows students to understand what IoT technologies are used for today, and what is required in certain scenarios. By looking at a variety of existing and developing technologies and architectural principles, students gain a better understanding of the types of technologies that are available and in use today and can be utilized to implement IoT solutions. Finally, students will be given the opportunity to apply these technologies to tackle scenarios of their choice in teams of two or three, using an experimental platform for implementing prototypes and testing them as running applications. At the end of the semester, all project teams will present their completed projects.

Notes:

Based on student feedback, the class has been updated to offer more structured exercises in IoT programming that prepare students for the course project
2nd year MIMS students can use this class's course project as part of their final project

The course is taught by a team of researchers from the Siemens Silicon Valley Web of Things Research Group and Sony PlayStation Network.

Syllabus (hover for abstract)

Lecture Date	Topics	Lecture Slides	Assigned Reading (opinion paper due date)	Assignment (due date)
2017-01-19	Overview and Introduction(Simon) In this introductory lecture we give a brief overview of the course's subject and organization. We discuss the course content by presenting the syllabus, and structuring it into the three main topics of technical, business, and societal themes. Organizational issues about the course include lectures, readings, lab time, assignments, and grading.	Introduction	As We May Think From the Internet of Computers to the Internet of Things (2017-02-25)	The assignment is available on bCourses. If you don't have access to bCourses, use this link.
2017-01-26	Getting Things Connected(Bryan) The purpose of this lecture is to give an overview of key technologies for connecting smart devices to the Internet and the Web. We will talk about specific classes of capabilities of devices that we want to bring to the IoT and discuss a few technologies that bring formerly dumb devices to "life."
2017-02-02	What's WoT? - IoT vs. WoT(Simon) In today's leture, we will discuss the main technological drivers behind the Internet of Things, the Web of Things, and the broader concept of Ubiquitous Computing. We also take a look at some of the expectations that rest on the IoT in the industrial domain and in domestic environments. Then, we define the terms (IoT, WoT, UbiComp) more formally and start discussing several basic architectural concepts of the Web.
2017-02-09	More about Layering and REST(Simon) Layering is one of the fundamental abstractions of IT systems, especially in the networking domain. We will look at how the Internet and the Web are layered and how this can be translated into IoT/WoT scenarios where resources are real-world resources. The Web's architectural style, Representational State Transfer (REST), is one promising candidate for building open, extensible, and extensible ecosystems of services on the Web. In this picture, Web's fundamental role is that of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), where resources can be accessed as a way to achieve application goals.
2017-02-16	Internet of Things Business Aspects(Florian) In the previous lectures we have discussed the technical foundations and drivers of the Internet of Things. The purpose of this lecture is to give a brief overview about the business drivers providing the rational of why corporations invest into IoT. We will take a look at some of the business opportunities of the IoT in the industrial domain and within domestic environments.
2017-02-23	Business Cases & Models(Florian) This lecture introduces the concept of business models, motivates the need, and reviews existing business models and maps them to the Internet of Things. We will take a look at various examples and discuss the emerging opportunities of IoT to generate business value.
2017-03-02	Business Issues and Concepts(Florian) The purpose of this lecture is to provide an overview about IoT business cases and a categorization of roles how to engage in the IoT ecosystem as a company. We will take a look at various examples and discuss pros and cons of the presented cases.
2017-03-09	IoT Communication Protocols(Simon) In this lecture we are looking at specialized communication protocols for the IoT (e.g., CoAP, MQTT, WebSocket) as examples of how requirements in specific application areas have resulted in a variety of protocols. The main challenge in this space is not to compare protocols feature-by-feature, but to understand what they do and do not cover, and what they have been designed for.
2017-03-16	Semantic Technologies and the IoT(Simon) The purpose of this lecture is to give an overview of current developments in the field of Semantic Technologies and their relationship to the Internet of Things. We explore several case studies and emphasize the challenges involved when explaining to a computer how the (physical) world works.
2017-03-23	Big IoT Data(Simon) In this lecture, we give an overview of current developments in the field of Big Data and its relationship to the Internet of Things. We explore several Big Data approaches when dealing with IoT data and discuss multiple case studies.
2016-03-30	Spring Recess
2016-04-06	Persuasive Technologies & Behavioral Change(Florian) This lecture introduces the psychological drivers of motivation and describes technical approaches to implement those in hardware and software. We will take a look at various examples and discuss the emerging opportunities and threats of IoT to influence human behavior.
2016-04-13	IoT: Implications for Society(Florian) This lecture discusses drivers of privacy and their relevance to acceptance of IoT. Furthermore, this talk looks at challenge of predicting future technology developments.
2016-04-20	The IoT in the Wild: Rafael Pous In this lecture, Rafael Pous, a Professor at the Information and Communications Technologies Department of Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, and founder and CTO of Keonn Technologies, will talk about concepts, technologies, use cases, and implementation challenges of the Internet of Things in retail, illustrating them with examples from recent deployments in major retail chains.
2016-04-27	Project Presentations & Course Summary(all) Today, you'll present the projects you've been working on over the course of the semester. Also, we will give a brief overview of the topics we have covered this semester, and how they fit into the bigger picture. Last but not least, we will also use today's class for doing the course evaluations.