Efficient Data Sharing and Caching for Information-Centric IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is multihop and consists of energy-limited sensor nodes that continually collect information on the physical world for real-time monitoring. IoT data is often desired by multiple users simultaneously, so energy-efficient and rapid data sharing is vital. The information-centric standard defines a novel data delivery paradigm, where data can be shared among multiple users and in-network caching can shorten distances between data and users. Therefore, we are motivated to leverage the information-centric standard to achieve IoT data sharing. In information-centric IoT, data is shared through multicast. Moreover, if energy-deficient sensor nodes perform in-network caching or build reverse paths, their energy become exhausted rapidly. In this article, we propose a data sharing and caching framework for information-centric IoT, and aim to enable IoT data sharing and reduce energy consumption and data sharing delays using in-network caching. In the proposal, sensor nodes with relatively abundant resources are chosen to implement in-network caching and build reverse paths so that users achieve unicast-based data sharing from optimal caching sensor nodes. The framework is evaluated to demonstrate its advances and strengths.