SDN-based architecture challenging the IoT heterogeneity

Internet of things (IoT) is about billions of heterogeneous smart devices connected through heterogeneous communications technologies such as Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc. The variety of devices and technologies pushes the development of solutions and applications in various domains. Nevertheless, it makes the management, control and programmability of networks and IoT applications (Smart city, Smart healthcare, Industry, etc.) extremely complex. Therefore, we propose an SDN-based architecture to manage heterogeneity of the devices and the networks. Our solution is based on the utilization of dockers implemented on devices. In this paper, we focus on the connectivity of heterogeneous devices beyond heterogeneous networks. Our test results prove the feasibility of our architecture with the use of a centralized SDN controller and MiniNet emulator.