A Comprehensive Semantic Model for Smart Object Description and Request Resolution in the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things is a natural continuity of the Ambient Intelligence where smart and ambient environments are built by integrating a large number of interconnected smart objects with heterogeneous capabilities abstracted as software services. The aim is to design cross-domain applications that compose and select most relevant services, which best match user requirements and closely meet the specified quality-of-service level. However, semantic description and representation of such smart devices, including their hosted services and their provided real world data, is still a challenging issue. Semantic Web technologies are seen as a promising tool for this purpose. Indeed, applying these technologies in the Internet of Things enables smart objects to efficiently share their data, exchange their services and cooperate to better satisfy both functional and non-functional user requirements. In this paper, we propose a new semantic model for smart objects description and users request resolution using ontological techniques combined with description logics. Such a model facilitates intelligent functions, including reasoning over service data and semantic interoperability enabling among devices. A case study for smart environment monitoring has been proposed to illustrate the effectiveness and usability of our approach.