Overview
ISO/IEC 21823-3:2021 specifies fundamental concepts and guidance related to semantic interoperability for Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Addressing requirements as outlined in the interoperability facet model of ISO/IEC 21823-1, the standard focuses on how IoT systems can consistently exchange and understand the meaning of information, regardless of individual data formats or domains. This international standard is essential for IoT ontology engineers, IoT system engineers, solution architects, and organizations aiming to achieve seamless, cross-domain information exchange in IoT deployments.
Semantic interoperability enables IoT systems to interpret data exchanged with other devices or platforms, ensuring the data’s meaning is preserved and understood across different systems through the use of ontologies, metadata, and standardized vocabularies.
Key Topics
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Core Ontology Requirements: ISO/IEC 21823-3 highlights the need for machine-readable, extensible ontologies that define the concepts, relationships, and metadata necessary for semantic interoperability. It recommends using core and domain-specific ontologies to accommodate a broad range of IoT applications.
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Ontology Best Practices: The standard provides guidance for using ontologies in IoT, including principles for extensibility, modularity, scalability, and interoperability with other ontologies. It encourages the use of existing ontologies where appropriate and details practices for developing new, domain-specific ontologies.
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Semantic Information Exchange Models: Emphasizes the role of semantic models in facilitating information exchange. It outlines both process and usage models, describing how semantic data is created, integrated, and shared between abstract and concrete IoT components.
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Lifecycle Management: Addresses the full lifecycle of semantic interoperability in IoT, from model creation and integration to ongoing management and maintenance. The standard elaborates on alignment, mapping, merging, and integration of ontologies, supporting sustainable semantic interoperability.
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Cross-Domain and Domain-Specific Guidance: Offers insights into developing and harmonizing ontologies across different domains (e.g., energy, healthcare, transport, smart cities), supporting both single-domain and cross-domain IoT solutions.
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Use Cases and Scenarios: Presents real-world scenarios and service use cases that illustrate the requirements and applications of semantic interoperability, highlighting practical benefits for smart environments, industrial IoT, and beyond.
Applications
Semantic interoperability is critical in diverse IoT applications, enabling:
- Smart Cities: Integration of data from diverse sources-energy management, transportation systems, water utilities, healthcare, etc.-to create unified, intelligent urban services.
- Healthcare IoT: Ensuring consistent interpretation and sharing of patient data, device observations, and analytics across multiple eHealth platforms.
- Industrial IoT (IIoT): Facilitating interoperability among machines, sensors, and management systems in manufacturing or logistics, making operational data actionable and reusable.
- Cross-Domain Deployments: Linking systems across multiple domains (e.g., electric vehicle charging integrating transport and energy data).
- Device Discovery and Automation: Enabling IoT devices to self-describe capabilities and requirements using ontologies, thus supporting dynamic configuration and automation.
Related Standards
Organizations seeking to implement ISO/IEC 21823-3:2021 may also consider the following related standards to achieve comprehensive IoT interoperability:
- ISO/IEC 21823-1: Internet of Things - Interoperability for IoT Systems - Part 1: Framework
- ISO/IEC 20924: Internet of Things (IoT) - Vocabulary
- ISO/IEC 30141: Internet of Things (IoT) - Reference Architecture
- W3C Semantic Sensor Network Ontology: A widely used ontology for sensor data representation.
- oneM2M Base Ontology, OCF Ontology, ETSI SAREF: Examples of ontologies referenced for practical IoT interoperability scenarios.
By following the foundational principles and guidelines in ISO/IEC 21823-3:2021, organizations can develop robust IoT systems with enhanced scalability, data reusability, and cross-domain interoperability-laying a critical foundation for the future of smart, interconnected environments.
Open preview (PDF)Internet of things (IoT) — Interoperability for IoT systems — Part 3: Semantic interoperability
