Extending the Devices Profile for Web Services Standard Using a REST Proxy

The Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS) standard enables the use of Web services for certain Internet of Things (IoT) applications. DPWS is appropriate for implementing services on resource-constrained devices. However, little investigation has gone into how such services perform in IoT scenarios as regards features such as dynamic discovery and publish-subscribe eventing. Moreover, DPWS introduces considerable overhead due to its use of SOAP envelopes in exchange messages. To tackle these problems, the authors extend the DPWS standard using a REST proxy, creating a RESTful Web API that paves the way for developers to invest more in this technology.