Application architectures for machine to machine communications: Research agenda vs. state-of-the art

Machine to Machine (M2M) communications (M2M for short) is a key to the internet of Things. It is paradigm that enables machines to communicate with each other with little or no human intervention. M2M is the basis of a plethora of applications. Currently, M2M research and standardization is enjoying a period of effervescence, especially in the communications and networking aspects. The application layer remains under-researched despite its pivotal role. This position paper proposes a research agenda for application architectures in M2M settings, and contrasts it with the state of the art. M2M use cases are presented, generic requirements for application architectures are proposed, research challenges are identified, and the early attempts to address them are reviewed. The state of the art is indeed terminal and we foresee a great interest and effervescence in M2M application architecture research in the coming years.