Abstractions and Solutions to Support Smart-objects in the Future Internet

As the number of devices that gain connectivity and join the category of smart-objects increases every year reaching unprecedented numbers, new challenges are imposed on our networks. While specialized solutions for certain use cases have been proposed, more flexible and scalable new approaches to networking will be required to deal with billions or trillions of smart objects connected to the Internet. With this paper, we take a step back looking at the set of basic problems that are posed by this group of devices. In order to develop an analysis on how these issues could be approached, we define which fundamental abstractions might help solving or at least reducing their impact on the network by offering support for fundamental matters such as mobility, group based delivery and support for distributed computing resources. Based on the concept of named-objects, we propose a set of solutions that network and show how this approach can address both scalability and functional requirements. Finally, we describe a comprehensive clean-slate network architecture (MobiityFirst) which attempts to realize the proposed capabilities.