Application development for the Internet of Things: A context-aware mixed criticality systems development platform

The Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining momentum and may positively influence the automation of energy-efficiency management of smart buildings. However, the development of IoT-enabled applications still takes tremendous efforts due to the lack of proper tools. Many software components have to be developed from scratch, thus requiring huge amounts of effort, as developers must have a deep understanding of the technologies, the new application domain, and the interplay with legacy systems. In this paper we introduce the IMPReSS Systems Development Platform (SDP) that aims at reducing the complexity of developing IoT-enabled applications for supporting sensor data collection in buildings, managing automated system changes according to the context, and real-time prioritization of devices for controlling energy usage. The effectiveness of the SDP for the development of IoT-based context-aware and mixed-criticality applications was assessed by using it in four scenarios involving energy efficiency management in public buildings. Qualitative studies were undertaken with application developers in order to evaluate their perception of five key components of the SDP with regard to usability. The study revealed significant and encouraging results. Further, a quantitative performance analysis explored the scalability limits of the IMPReSS communication components.