Vision and Challenges for Realising the Internet of Things

personal data as specified by ePrivacy protection directives. For example through algorithms
that clean up unnecessary data and maintain principles of data quality, limitation, and conservation.
Figure 4.8-1: ASPIRE Overview.
2.1 General Architecture
The ASPIRE architecture [AS43b] (see Figure 4.8-1) implements the set of EPC standards and
complements it by a set of added value features. Figure 4.8-2 shows the main components of
the architecture. Heterogeneous landscape of readers from different providers is displayed.
Note that readers that are not under EPC or ASPIRE standards are connected to the platform
via a HAL or hardware abstraction layer, which basically converts proprietary into ASPIRE
semantics, and vice versa. Readers that deploy EPC reader protocols are directly connected via
RP or LLRP to the Filtering and collection (F&C) server, which in turn implements the ALE
interface standard to upper layers. The F&C server filters unwanted data and forwards refined
streams to different subscribers. In ASPIRE the main subscriber is the BEG (Business Event
Generator), which interconnects the F&C and the EPCIS modules and which constitutes and
added value solution provided by ASPIRE. The EPCIS module is finally connected to particular
end user applications via, for example, web-services. A key element in the ASPIRE architecture
is the Integrated Development Environment, which allows a rapid and efficient management
of the ASPIRE middleware platform. The management solution is not part of EPC
standards and hence it also constitutes an added value solution of ASPIRE.
Figure 4.8-2: ASPIRE Architecture for Programmability, Configurability and End-to-End Infrastructure
Management.
CERP-IoT – Cluster of European Research Projects on the Internet of Things
155