IoT Middleware Platforms for Smart Energy Systems: An Empirical Expert Survey

Qamar Alfalouji, Thomas Schranz, Alexander Kümpel, Markus Schraven, Thomas Storek, Stephan Gross, Antonello Monti, Dirk Müller, Gerald Schweiger*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Middleware platforms are key technology in any Internet of Things (IoT) system, considering their role in managing the intermediary communications between devices and applications. In the energy sector, it has been shown that IoT devices enable the integration of all network assets to one large distributed system. This comes with significant benefits, such as improving energy efficiency, boosting the generation of renewable energy, reducing maintenance costs and increasing comfort. Various existing IoT middlware solutions encounter several problems that limit their performance, such as vendor locks. Hence, this paper presents a literature review and an expert survey on IoT middleware platforms in energy systems, in order to provide a set of tools and functionalities to be supported by any future efficient, flexible and interoperable IoT middleware considering the market needs. The analysis of the results shows that experts currently use the IoT middleware mainly to deploy services such as visualization, monitoring and benchmarking of energy consumption, and energy optimization is considered as a future application to target. Likewise, non-functional requirements, such as security and privacy, play vital roles in the IoT platforms’ performances.
Original languageEnglish
Article number526
JournalBuildings
Volume12
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Keywords

  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • IoT middleware platforms
  • energy systems
  • cyber-physical systems

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Building and Construction
  • Architecture
  • Civil and Structural Engineering

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