Interoperability

In modern messaging apps (like WhatsApp, Signal, or iMessage), each platform has its own way of identifying messages and securing them with cryptographic signatures. This makes interoperability — the ability of users on different apps to communicate securely — very difficult.

The IETF More Instant Messaging Interoperability (MIMI) Working Group is trying to solve this by standardizing how messaging systems communicate. Think of it as building a shared "language" and structure so different apps can exchange messages securely and meaningfully.

The draft draft-mahy-mimi-msgid-aad defines a common format for message IDs and a standard structure for Authenticated Additional Data (AAD) that can be used when signing or encrypting messages. AAD is a part of the message that, while not encrypted, is authenticated — ensuring its integrity.

By placing the Message ID in the AAD, it becomes accessible to MIMI providers outside the immediate Messaging Layer Security (MLS) group. Including the Message ID in the AAD is crucial for interoperability because it allows different messaging services to recognize and process messages consistently. This supports features like message synchronization across platforms, consistent message threading, and accurate message delivery status updates.

The Internet-Draft titled "ICN Challenges for Metaverse Platform Interoperability" [1] explores how Information-Centric Networking (ICN) can enhance interoperability among metaverse platforms. By focusing on content delivery rather than host-based communication, ICN offers features like in-network caching and inherent security, which can address key challenges in the metaverse, including scalability, low-latency performance, data ownership, and the need for standardization.

The document identifies several challenges for ICN in supporting metaverse interoperability:

• Scalability: Managing large data volumes and numerous simultaneous interactions across platforms without causing bottlenecks.
• Latency and Real-Time Interaction: Achieving ultra-low latency for real-time interactions, such as avatar movements and voice communications.
• Security and Privacy: Ensuring secure content distribution across platforms, including strong encryption and access controls.
• Data Ownership and Rights Management: Supporting complex ownership structures with permissions and usage rights for assets across platforms.
• Interoperability Standards: Developing and adopting standards to facilitate seamless interaction between diverse metaverse platforms.

To address these challenges, the draft proposes several solutions:

• Adaptive Caching Strategies: Optimizing caching to reduce latency and keep content readily available near users.
• Leveraging Multicast and Broadcast: Utilizing ICN’s multicast capabilities to improve content distribution for real-time, interactive experiences.
• Enhanced Security Layers: Implementing advanced encryption, authentication, and access controls to protect digital assets and sensitive data.
• Rights Management via Named Data Objects: Enhancing Named Data Objects (NDOs) to manage ownership, permissions, and usage rights for assets in the metaverse.

[1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-hong-icn-metaverse-interoperability/

The ONTO-DESIDE project - https://ontodeside.eu/ - has published early in 2023 an overview of existing ontologies and standards for interoperability in ICT systems to exchange product and materials data

The overview of ontologies and vocabularies can be found in this deliverable Table 4, and of relevant standards in Table 8 : https://ontodeside.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Onto_DESIDE_Deliverable_3_1_v1.0.pdf

In order to enable a uniform understanding of all entities in the field of “logistics of goods and services” 
within the framework of the FENIX project, a data model and uniform descriptions of the entities are 
required. The FENIX semantic data model has, therefore, has been developed based on the physical 
activities in the pilots’ use cases for the transport and handling of goods. 
In order for the digital twin to be created, the physical world must be mapped over to the digital world. 
This is achieved by creating a digital twin for each entity. For this purpose, the data modelling can be 
used as a reference and guideline for the development of the semantic model.  

The main objective in creating the data model was to define and specify the 
objects to be managed in an information system and document the required attributes and their 
relationships between the objects. This was achieved by carrying out a requirements analysis of the 
individual FENIX use cases where the individual entities were identified and through a conceptual 
phase where the model was finally developed.

In July 2022, the IETF has published a new specification that was developed with the help of StandICT. The specification is RFC 9264, "Linkset: Media Types and a Link Relation Type for Link Sets." Here's the specification's abstract:

This specification defines two formats and associated media types for representing sets of links as standalone documents. One format is based on JSON, and the other is aligned with the format for representing links in the HTTP "Link" header field. This specification also introduces a link relation type to support the discovery of sets of links.

Here's the specification's introduction which provides a motivation for the work:

Resources on the Web often use typed Web Links (as specified by RFC 8288), either (1) embedded in resource representations -- for example, using the <link> element for HTML documents or (2) conveyed in the HTTP "Link" header field for documents of any media type. In some cases, however, providing links in this manner is impractical or impossible, and delivering a set of links as a standalone document is preferable.

Therefore, this specification defines two formats for representing sets of Web Links and their attributes as standalone documents. One serializes links in the same format as the format used in the HTTP "Link" header field, and the other serializes links in JSON. It also defines associated media types to represent sets of links, and the "linkset" relation type to support the discovery of any resource that conveys a set of links as a standalone document.

Find the full specification here: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9264.html

ISO/IEC 21823-3:2021 Internet of things (IoT) — Interoperability for IoT systems — Part 3: Semantic interoperability

https://www.iso.org/standard/83752.html

Abstract: Basic concepts for IoT systems semantic interoperability, including: – requirements of the core ontologies for semantic interoperability; – best practices and guidance on how to use ontologies and to develop domain-specific applications, including the need to allow for extensibility and connection to external ontologies; – cross-domain specification and formalization of ontologies to provide harmonized utilization of existing ontologies; – relevant IoT ontologies along with comparative study of the characteristics and approaches in terms of modularity, extensibility, reusability, scalability, interoperability with upper ontologies, and; – use cases and service scenarios that exhibit necessities and requirements of semantic interoperability.

Book Chapter: PerfectO: An Online Toolkit for Improving Quality, Accessibility, and Classification of Domain-based Ontologies. Amelie Gyrard, Ghislain Atemezing, and Martin Serrano. Book: Semantic IoT: Theory and Applications - Interoperability, Provenance and Beyond. Springer 2021.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03200754/

SAREF-Compliant Knowledge Discovery for Semantic Energy and Grid Interoperability. Amelie Gyrard, Antonio Kung, Olivier Genest, Alain Moreau. IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2021) https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03336052

Abstract : Modern cities are becoming "green and sustainable" once effective and optimized energy management of resources, gathering, and integration of data from smart energy and building are executed. The integration of heterogeneous technologies, and devices, require an interoperable solution to describe devices and data exchanged. SAREF is an ontology supported by the ETSI SmartM2M standard to achieve interoperability among IoT projects, architectures, etc. that can be extended to any IoT vertical domains such as smart buildings or energy. SAREF can be used to describe data sent through communication protocols or once that data must be processed (e.g., on the cloud, gateways, devices). ETSI does not provide tools yet that support the SAREF ontology to avoid engineers from developing from scratch. We design a SAREF-compliant sensor dictionary which also overcomes SAREF limitations. The sensor dictionary, applied to energy scenarios, is employed by a reasoner to infer meaningful knowledge from sensor data. Online demonstrators are available. The scenarios are also relevant for the Interconnect European funded project that comprises 50 partners to design interoperable smart buildings and grids.