2 Justification

In Release 4, SDT (Smart Device Template) (WI-0081) was extended to include device management functions in addition to the existing services. This justified extension creates a new way to perfom device management compared to the existing Device Management (DMG) Common Service Function (CSF) model using <mgmtObj>.

In Release 4, a work item (WI-0099) was created to study a possible transition phase allowing implementation using DMG <mgmtObj> to migrate towards SDT model. The study done in TR-0067 concluded that such a migration was not desirable and thus, DMG <mgmtObj> should stay as is.

The WI-0099 study raised a new vision on the way the Device Management could be designed, especially for IoT network technologies, with more abstract APIs and independently from any external DM technology, relying on IPE guidelines. This new vision is driven by the extension of the Edge architectural paradigm, from Edge in network equipments to Extreme Edge Computing in IoT devices, able to host more and more powerful processing. This leads to potentially highly distributed deployment which need to reconsider some initial architectural thoughts.

Device Magangement using flexContainers (IPE-based) with SDT provides a unique and extensible solution to manage IoT devices for services and device management. This unicity will help to develop solutions using AI within architectures that may be extended when a solution is upgraded for new needs but also to include new kinds of devices which do not exist today.

The IPE-based Device Management with FlexContainers (IPE-DM) offers:

  • A simplified architecture: one IPE per interworked technology, not a global CSF for the CSE to handle all external technologies.
  • A simplified data model: no need to describe in each managed entity the full information on its origin.
  • A simplified design: only <flexContainers>, not <mgmtObj> + <mgmtCmd>. FCs (flexContainers) are more flexible than MOs (FCs can have FC children).
  • A simplified usage: unified Service & Device Management.
  • An historization of DM events through flexContainerInstances.

While the current DMG CSF:

  • Was designed before the creation of the <flexContainer> resource (release 2).
  • Is not documented to the level required for the test purposes.
  • Is designed in a way that it is the CSE that manages MOs, hence it has to 'know' the underlying DM protocols: not suited for the explosion of IoT protocols (in the proposed IPE-based DM, the 'intelligence' is in the IPEs, not in the CSE).
  • Is designed for 'real' DM protocols (BBF TR-069, OMA DM & LwM2M), not for interworking with IoT networks that have few 'pure DM' features.

This Release 5 Work Item proposes to define an IPE-based Device Management with FlexContainers that will be more future-proof and applicable to any kind of existing or future IoT networks.

This work item will specify the IPE-based Device Management with FlexContainers to cover at least the existing functional scope of device management features that are:

  • the basic management features (including BBF TR-069, OMA DM & LwM2M),
  • the CMDH (Communication Management and Delivery Handling) and
  • the Field Device Configuration.