Scalable ID/Locator Resolution for the IoT

Identifier-locator separation is a mechanism that has been used successfully to support fine-grain object mobility and persistence. Support for legacy identification systems is seen as critical for the rapid adoption of the IoT. Thus, network-based identifier resolution and meta-data discovery services are already widely recognized as one of the core ingredients of the IoT architecture. This paper introduces a secure and scalable approach for the provision of such services derived as an application of the Handle System, which is extended with the components required for ID/Locator resolution on the IoT. This scheme is applicable to practically any IoT-based ID/Locator specification incorporating those established for different flavors of RFID and wireless sensor networks, and supersedes previous proposals such as the Object Naming and the OID Resolution Service. To highlight its advantages, we deploy our scheme to the long-standing artifact identification scheme specified under ISO/IEC 9834. In particular, we introduce a mapping for embedding OID Unique Item Identifiers in the Handle address space, several new HDL data-types defined so as to address common information provision needs in this context, and outline operational and use considerations. We conclude that the approach proposed here supports object mobility, fine-grain security compatible with international IoT requirements, especially with regards to governance, and multiple domains of control at the item level combined with superior scalability both with regard to identifier address space and system size.