PROPOSED Web of Things Working Group Charter
The
mission
of
the
Web
of
Things
Working
Group
is
to
counter
the
fragmentation
of
the
IoT
through
the
specification
of
building
blocks
that
enable
easy
integration
of
IoT
devices
and
services
across
IoT
platforms
and
application
domains.
These
building
blocks
should
complement
and
enhance
the
use
of
existing
standards.
standards,
and
allow
WoT
to
be
used
within
other
ecosystems
and
communities.
This
reduces
the
initial
friction
for
adoption
and
supports
further
industry
adoption.
This
Working
Group
Charter
covers
those
aspects
that
the
Web
of
Things
Interest
Group
(charter
here)
believes
are
mature
enough
to
progress
to
W3C
Recommendations.
This proposed charter is available on GitHub . Feel free to raise issues .
| Charter Status | See the group status page and detailed change history . |
|---|---|
| Start date | 1 June 2023 (ESTIMATED) (date of the "Call for Participation", when the charter is approved) |
| End date | 1 June 2025 (ESTIMATED; Start date + 2 years) |
| Chairs | [chair name] (affiliation) |
| Team Contacts | Kazuyuki Ashimura (0.2 FTE ) |
| Meeting Schedule |
Teleconferences:
Weekly
with
additional
topic
specific
calls
as
appropriate.
Face-to-face: We will meet during the W3C's annual Technical Plenary week; additional face-to-face meetings may be scheduled by consent of the participants, with no more than four (4) face-to-face meetings in total per year. |
Note: The W3C Process Document requires “The level of confidentiality of the group's proceedings and deliverables”; however, it does not mandate where this appears. Since all W3C Working Groups should be chartered as public, this notice has been moved from the essentials table to the communication section .
This
As
a
continuation
of
the
work
in
the
previous
charter
,
this
working
group
is
tasked
with
the
standardization
or
extension
of
several
technological
the
building
blocks
identified
by
the
use
cases
resulting
from
the
work
of
the
Web
of
Things
Interest
Group
(IG)
as
being
important
to
advancing
advance
the
Web
of
Things.
The
WoT
building
blocks
are
intended
to
complement
and
integrate
to
existing
and
emerging
IoT
standards
by
focusing
using
Web
technologies.
As
a
result,
the
building
blocks
focus
on
enabling
cross-platform
and
cross-domain
interoperability.
interoperability
in
the
IoT.
The
proposed
work
items
are
summarized
in
the
Scope
section,
and
include
(REVISE)
(KEEP
in
Sync)
interoperability
profiles
for
particular
usage
contexts;
vocabulary
support
for
new
protocols,
security
schemes,
out-of-the-box
interoperability;
protocol
and
links;
standardized
discovery
mechanisms;
payload
bindings
for
ecosystem
support;
improving
the
descriptive
power
of
Thing
Descriptions
for
further
use
cases
and
improvements
to
Thing
Description
Templates.
the
discovery
mechanism;
These
work
items
will
be
prototyped
and
tested
by
multiple
implementors
in
WoT
IG
PlugFests
during
development.
Open-source
implementations
will
be
prioritized.
Scope
The Working Group has the following work items in scope:
Scope Summary
After each work item, in parenthesis, we identify the deliverables it may be included in.- Discovery Updates ( Discovery ):
- Updates to the Discovery specification to support additional introduction mechanisms, improve query mechanisms in directories, align with scripting APIs, support all Thing Description versions (1.0, 1.1, and 2.0) and Thing Models, better support CoAP, and improve security and validation.
- Geolocation ( Discovery , Thing Description , Profiles ):
- Define mechanisms for embedding of static geolocation information in TDs, annotation of data models for dynamic geolocation, and spatial filters in TD Directory queries for geospatially-limited discovery.
- Onboarding ( Architecture , Discovery ):
- Define lifecycle process to establish mutual trust and identification.
- Security Scheme Ontology ( Thing Description , Binding Templates ):
- Refactor security schemes to use Protocol Binding ontologies for protocol-specific security schemes.
- Signing ( Discovery , Thing Description ):
- Add support for Thing Description signing and support signed Thing Descriptions in the Discovery process. Requires definition of Thing Description canonicalization.
- Timeseries ( Thing Description , Binding Templates ):
- Add support for describing historical values or value changes of affordances to the TD specification in an interoperable way with existing solutions.
- Payload Driven Protocols ( Thing Description , Binding Templates , Profiles ):
- Add support for describing protocols that depend on specific payload structures on top of the protocol bindings.
- Manageable Actions ( Thing Description , Profiles ):
- Add support for describing actions that can be managed after their invocation.
- Initial / Common Connection Description ( Thing Description , Binding Templates ):
- Add support for a connection description to be shared among affordance operations
- Canonicalization ( Thing Description , Discovery ):
- Add a canonicalization algorithm.
- Inline Security ( Thing Description ):
- Add a way to describe security definitions in a simplified fashion for simple cases.
- TD Versioning ( Thing Description , Discovery ):
- Explain the semantics on how to version Thing Descriptions.
- Normative TD Parsing, Consuming and Validation ( Thing Description , Scripting API , Profiles ):
- Define normative algorithms for parsing, consuming and validating Thing Descriptions.
- Linting mechanism for TDs ( Thing Description , Profiles ):
- Define a linting mechanism for Thing Descriptions that allows adding additional rules.
- Binding Mechanism ( Binding Templates , Thing Description , Security , Profiles ):
- Add normative binding mechanism
- Protocol Bindings ( Binding Templates ):
- Define bindings for specific protocols of interest.
- Payload Bindings ( Binding Templates ):
- Define bindings for payload formats of interest.
- Interoperability Profiles ( Profiles ):
- Support out-of-the-box interoperabilty via a profiling mechanism.
Out of Scope
The following features are out of scope, and will not be addressed by this Working group.
- Application- and domain-specific metadata vocabularies:
- The Working Group is restricted to work on cross-domain vocabularies.
- APIs and security frameworks specific to particular platforms external to the W3C:
- The scope of the Working Group is restricted to APIs and security frameworks that are applicable across platforms. We will not define new security mechanisms but will use existing mechanisms and best practices.
- Modification of protocols:
- If during work on protocol bindings, it becomes apparent that changes are needed to protocols, the Web of Things Working Group will rely on the organization responsible for the protocol to make the changes. It is out of scope for the Working Group to standardize such changes itself.
Deliverables
Updated document status is available on the group publication status page .
Normative Specifications
The Working Group will deliver the following W3C normative specifications:
- Web of Things (WoT) Discovery 1.1
-
This specification defines a Discovery process for WoT, and would be a backward-compatible update to the existing WoT Discovery Specification.
Draft state: No draft
Expected completion: Q3 2024
Adopted Draft: This will be a revision of the current Web of Things (WoT) Discovery specification published at https://www.w3.org/TR/wot-discovery/ , as a Candidate Recommendation on 19 January 2023.
- Web of Things (WoT) Binding Templates
-
This specification defines the mechanism to bind protocols, payload and media formats, or combination of the two to the Web of Things. The binding mechanism will be a normative document with the following set of registry sections:
- 3 registry sections dedicated to stable bindings that reach at least a working draft status
- 3 registry sections dedicated to experimental bindings that are at least publicly available
Draft state: No draft
Expected completion: TBD
Adopted Draft: TBD
Other Deliverables
Other non-normative documents may be created including:
- Use Cases and Requirements;
- Security and Privacy Guidelines (to be published as a W3C Note);
- Test suite and implementation reports for each specification;
- Primer or Best Practice documents to support web developers when designing applications.
-
WoT
Scripting
API
(W3C
Note):
This
document
will
present
a
design
for
a
Scripting
API
that
will
support
exposing
and
consuming
Thing
Descriptions
while
providing
a
high-level
interface
to
interactions
that
is
independent
of
protocol.
The
work
will
continuously
align
with
the
WoT
TD
specification.
Besides
these
efforts,
alignment
with
the
WoT
Discovery
specification
will
be
the
main
topic.
Draft state: Group Note
Timeline
- June 2023: First teleconference
- July 2023: First face-to-face meeting
- September 2023: Requirements and Use Cases for WoT Discovery 1.1
- January 2024: FPWD for WoT Discovery 1.1
- August 2024: CR Transition for WoT Discovery 1.1
- August 2024: Updated publication of WoT Security and Privacy Guidelines as a Note
- December 2024: PR Transition for WoT Discovery 1.1
- March 2025: REC Transition for WoT Discovery 1.1
Success Criteria
In order to advance to Proposed Recommendation , each normative specification is expected to have at least two independent interoperable implementations of every feature defined in the specification, where interoperability can be verified by passing open test suites, and two or more implementations interoperating with each other. In order to advance to Proposed Recommendation, each normative specification must have an open test suite of every feature defined in the specification.
A testing plan will be developed for each specification, starting from the earliest drafts.
To promote interoperability, all changes made to specifications in Candidate Recommendation or to features that have deployed implementations should have tests .
Each specification should contain sections detailing all known security and privacy implications for implementers, Web authors, and end users.
Coordination
For all specifications, this Working Group will seek horizontal review for accessibility, internationalization, privacy, and security with the relevant Working and Interest Groups, and with the TAG . Invitation for review must be issued during each major standards-track document transition, including FPWD . The Working Group is encouraged to engage collaboratively with the horizontal review groups throughout development of each specification. The Working Group is advised to seek a review at least 3 months before first entering CR and is encouraged to proactively notify the horizontal review groups when major changes occur in a specification following a review.
Additional technical coordination with the following Groups will be made, per the W3C Process Document :
In addition to the above catch-all reference to horizontal review which includes accessibility review, please check with chairs and staff contacts of the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group to determine if an additional liaison statement with more specific information about concrete review issues is needed in the list below.
W3C Groups
- Web of Things Community Group
- For collaboration on community outreach of the WG reports to increase adoption and implementation, as well as collecting feedback from the global community. Meetings held in English.
- Web of Things Japanese Community Group
- For collaboration on community outreach of the WG reports to increase adoption and implementation, as well as collecting feedback from the Japanese community. Meetings held in Japanese.
- Web of Things Interest Group
- For collaboration as outlined in Scope .
- JSON-LD Working Group
- For collaboration on JSON-LD features and WoT use cases.
- Efficient Extensible Interchange Community Group
- In relation to efficient interchange for Thing Descriptions.
- Web and Automotive Business & Working Groups
- For collaboration on technologies and requirements relating to connected cars and the Web of Things.
- Device and Sensors Working Group
- For coordination on APIs for sensors and actuators.
- Decentralized Identifier Working Group
- For coordination on identity management and information lifecycle.
- Web & Networks Interest Group
-
For
collaboration
on
networking
and
computing
technologies
on
the
edge
and
in
the
cloud
when
exposing
interactions
between
Things.
Spatial Data on the Web Working Group For collaboration on geolocation, in conjunction with the Open Geospatial Consortium. - Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group
- For coordination on impact of WoT technologies on accessibility for users with disabilities, and to support new capabilities that help leverage WoT connectivity and sensor networks for disability support in public and private spaces.
- Privacy Interest Group
- In addition to horizontal review, during development of deliverables such as discovery and information lifecycle that require the development of a privacy-preserving architecture, close technical collaboration with the Privacy Interest Group will be needed.
- Schema Extensions for IoT Community Group
- For collaboration on extensions to Schema.org for IoT use cases.
External Organizations
To succeed in establishing inter-platform standards, W3C needs to coordinate with IoT alliances and standards development organizations. A longer list is available on the Interest Group wiki that includes cooperations partners from former Web of Things charters.
List of active and new liaisons:
- OPC Foundation
- For coordination on the development of the OPC UA Binding for the W3C Web of Things. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) / Multi-Organization Cooperation Agreement (MOCA) will be considered in order to establish a formal relationship.
- ECHONET Consortium
- For collaboration on integrating ECHONET Consortium based platforms within the Web of Things, including platform metadata and approaches for enabling semantic interoperability, and end to end security across platforms.
- Industrial Digital Twin Association
- For coordination on the use of TDs and Binding Templates in the Asset Interface Description (AID) submodel for the Asset Administration (AAS) specification. Additionally, the AAS submodels can be used for Digital Nameplate (DNP) and Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) to form the Digital Product Passport (DPP) of products that the European Commission is demanding each product to supply (DPP4.0). Also see the related GitHub comment .
- ASHRAE
- For coordination on the development of the BACnet (ASHRAE 135-2020) Binding for the W3C Web of Things .
- IETF
- Coordinate common interests related to Internet of Things and Web of Things, e.g., issues such as serialization, security, and trustworthiness.
- IRTF Thing to Thing Research Group
- For coordination of matters of mutual interest in relation to the Web of Things, such as data modelling, discovery, directory services, and IoT semantics.
Participation
To be successful, this Working Group is expected to have 6 or more active participants for its duration, including representatives from the key implementors of this specification, and active Editors and Test Leads for each specification. The Chairs, specification Editors, and Test Leads are expected to contribute half of a working day per week towards the Working Group. There is no minimum requirement for other Participants.
The group encourages questions, comments and issues on its public mailing lists and document repositories, as described in Communication .
The group also welcomes non-Members to contribute technical submissions for consideration upon their agreement to the terms of the W3C Patent Policy .
Participants in the group are required (by the W3C Process ) to follow the W3C Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct .
Communication
Technical discussions for this Working Group are conducted in public : the meeting minutes from teleconference and face-to-face meetings will be archived for public review, and technical discussions and issue tracking will be conducted in a manner that can be both read and written to by the general public. Working Drafts and Editor's Drafts of specifications will be developed in public repositories and may permit direct public contribution requests. The meetings themselves are not open to public participation, however.
Information about the group (including details about deliverables, issues, actions, status, participants, and meetings) will be available from the Web of Things (WoT) Working Group home page.
Most Web of Things (WoT) Working Group teleconferences will focus on discussion of particular specifications, and will be conducted on an as-needed basis. However, one teleconference will be held weekly to coordinate activities among the task forces responsible for each specification.
This group primarily conducts its technical work on GitHub issues , using a main repository for general topics and more specific repositories for individual specifications. The public is invited to review, discuss and contribute to this work.
The group may use a Member-confidential mailing list for administrative purposes and, at the discretion of the Chairs and members of the group, for member-only discussions in special cases when a participant requests such a discussion.
Decision Policy
This group will seek to make decisions through consensus and due process, per the W3C Process Document (section 5.2.1, Consensus) . Typically, an editor or other participant makes an initial proposal, which is then refined in discussion with members of the group and other reviewers, and consensus emerges with little formal voting being required.
However, if a decision is necessary for timely progress and consensus is not achieved after careful consideration of the range of views presented, the Chairs may call for a group vote and record a decision along with any objections.
To afford asynchronous decisions and organizational deliberation, any resolution (including publication decisions) taken in a face-to-face meeting or teleconference will be considered provisional. A call for consensus (CfC) will be issued for all resolutions (for example, via email, GitHub issue or web-based survey), with a response period from one week to 10 working days, depending on the chair's evaluation of the group consensus on the issue. If no objections are raised by the end of the response period, the resolution will be considered to have consensus as a resolution of the Working Group.
All decisions made by the group should be considered resolved unless and until new information becomes available or unless reopened at the discretion of the Chairs or the Director.
This charter is written in accordance with the W3C Process Document (Section 5.2.3, Deciding by Vote) and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.
Patent Policy
This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (Version of 15 September 2020). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Web specifications that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis. For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the licensing information .
Licensing
This Working Group will use the W3C Software and Document license for all its deliverables.
About this Charter
This charter has been created according to section 3.4 of the Process Document . In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.
Change log
Changes to this document are documented in this section.