A Generic Solution for IoT Ontology Model Based on OCF Standard

In the ever-evolving landscape of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, the proliferation of diverse standards has posed challenges in achieving seamless interoperability among devices, platforms, and systems. A critical concern within IoT is semantic interoperability, where differing semantics hinder effective communication between devices and systems. Various IoT consortiums have proposed solutions such as middleware technologies for protocol bridging and network semantic technologies for unified models. However, complete interconnection remains a challenge. In response, this paper introduces the Thing Specification (ThingSpec) IoT ontology model, designed to address semantic and syntactic discrepancies by integrating multiple standard ontologies. The ThingSpec model distills commonly used concepts, including devices, profiles, properties, actions, events, and services, while enhancing service collections and management. The model is organized into four functional components: the thing model, static model, dynamic model, and collection model, catering not only to device functionality but also facilitating multi-device interactions. By implementing the model within the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) framework, we demonstrate its ability to dynamically link actions, events, and services in specific scenarios. Evaluation results indicate the model’s prowess in integrating multiple standard ontologies and its robust language completeness and extensibility.