Unit 20: Internet of Things

Authorised Assignment Brief

Student Name/ID
Number

Unit Number Unit 20: Internet of Things

and Title

Academic Year

Unit Tutor

Assignment Title Investigation of the use of IoT Devices to Solve a

Business Problem
Issue Date

Submission Date

Submission Format

The assignment submission is in the form of:

 a case study on a positive example of an internet of things (IoT) implementation
with a recommended word limit of 1,000–1,500 words, written in a concise style,
although you will not be penalised for going under, or exceeding, the total word limit
 a project plan and development report on the development of an
appropriate IoT application with a recommended word limit of 2,000–2,500 words,
written in a concise style, although you will not be penalised for going under, or
exceeding, the total word limit
 a project report evaluating the success of your final IoT product with a
recommended word limit of 1,000–1,500 words, written in a concise style, although
you will not be penalised for going under, or exceeding, the total word limit.

You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and sub-sections as appropriate,
and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard
referencing system (or an alternative system). You will also need to provide a
bibliography using the Harvard referencing system (or an alternative system).
Inaccurate use of referencing may lead to issues of plagiarism if not applied correctly.

Unit Learning Outcomes

LO1 Analyse what aspects of IoT are necessary and appropriate when designing
software applications
LO2 Outline a plan for an appropriate IoT application using common architecture
frameworks, tools, hardware and APIs

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England: Authorised Assignment Briefs – Issue 1 – May 2023 © Pearson Education Limited 2023 1
LO3 Develop an IoT application using any combination of hardware, software, data,
platforms and services
LO4 Evaluate your IoT application and the problems it might encounter when
integrating into the wider IoT ecosystem

Transferable skills and competences developed

 Computational thinking
 Understanding of the scientific method and its application to problem-solving
 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, principles
and theories relating to computing and computer applications
 Recognition of appropriate professional, ethical and legal practices
 Recognise and analyse criteria and specifications appropriate to specific problems,
and plan strategies for their solution
 Critical evaluation and testing: analyse the extent to which a computer-based
system meets the criteria defined for its current use and future development
 The ability to specify, design and construct reliable, secure and usable computer-
based systems
 The ability to evaluate systems in terms of quality attributes and possible trade-
offs presented within the given problem
 The ability to plan and manage projects to deliver computing systems
within constraints of requirements, timescale and budget
 The ability to deploy effectively the tools used for the construction and
documentation of computer applications, with particular emphasis on
understanding the whole process involved in the effective deployment of
computers to solve practical problems
 The ability to critically evaluate and analyse complex problems, including those
with incomplete information, and devise appropriate solutions within the
constraints of a budget
 Methods and tools: deploy appropriate theory, practices and tools for the
design, implementation and evaluation of computer-based systems
 Self-awareness and reflection
 Reflection and communication
 Contextual awareness
 Intellectual skills

Vocational scenario

Organisation
Hou-Ji Solutions Ltd* is a biotechnology company specialising in developing applications
and solutions for a range of businesses and industries. Recent examples of its work
include smart home security and arable farming. The company has an award-winning
apprenticeship programme through which it nurtures and develops new talent in the
industry. Each intake of new apprentices joins the company on a nine-month
probationary basis, after which two remaining apprentices are offered permanent
contracts.

Effective assignment design for the Higher Nationals in Digital Technologies/ Digital Technologies for
2 England: Authorised Assignment Briefs – Issue 1 – May 2023 © Pearson
 Adverse weather conditions in South Africa means that mahangu (pearl millet – a type
of crop) harvests in Namibia have dropped by 17.5 per cent, leaving many people in
the region ‘food insecure’ or starving.
Mahangu grows best with rainfall between 250 mm and 700 mm, distributed evenly
during its growing season (typically between November and June) as waterlogging can
harm the yield. Heavy rainfall when the crop is flowering, 40–60 days after planting, can
cause it to fail. Around 30 days after the crop has flowered, the plants are ready for
harvesting. The crop also requires high temperatures and acid soils (with a low pH
value) and high salinity (high salt levels).
A local farming conglomerate, Mushimba-Shikongo Grain*, in the Kavango East region
of the country, has a plan to mitigate against the effects of adverse weather conditions
by installing a range of sensors across its farms. It wants to detect changes in a range
of growing conditions, including soil moisture, alkalinity, pH, ambient temperature and
light levels, so that sensors can notify the farm managers and they can respond to any
adverse conditions. The conglomerate also would like a system that could monitor the
upcoming weather to ensure that optimal growing conditions are maintained wherever
possible.

Role
You work as a junior infrastructure architect at Hou-Ji Solutions Ltd and you have been
asked to work on this smart project for your client Mushimba-Shikongo Grain. Part of
your role includes supporting the new intake of probationary apprentices in
understanding the business, particularly IoT technologies, frameworks and architecture,
as most probationary apprentices have not covered these topics in their studies.

* Hou-Ji Solutions Ltd and Mushimba-Shikongo Grain are not real companies – you should select appropriate companies
to meet local needs.

Assignment activity and guidance

Case study
Your manager has asked you to help produce a handbook that introduces the
fundamental concepts of IoT to new apprentices during their orientation.
As part of the handbook, you have been asked to contribute a case study that looks at
which aspects of IoT are necessary and appropriate when designing software
applications. You should use a range of real-world case studies to demonstrate the
different IoT architectures and frameworks.
A case study involves an up-close, in-depth and detailed investigation of a topic and
aims to bring understanding of a complex issue or topic within a given context, so bear
this in mind when devising the case study.
The case study should provide a positive example of an IoT implementation by giving
an overview of the internet of things concept by evaluating IoT architecture and
justifying that it can be used in designing software applications.

As part of the case study, you should include:

 an exploration of different types of IoT functionality
 a review of the standard IoT architecture, frameworks, tools, hardware and
APIs (AFTHA) used in development

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 an analysis of the impact that the use of common IoT AFTHA techniques has in
the software development life cycle (SDLC)
 an examination of specific forms of AFTHA techniques used for different
problem- solving requirements
 an evaluation and justification of the specific forms of IoT architecture used
when designing software applications.

As this is a case study format, you should use ‘real-world’ examples from your research to
illustrate the IoT architectures you are discussing.

Project plan and development report

Your manager would like you to outline a plan and then develop an appropriate IoT
application to achieve Mushimba-Shikongo Grain’s aims. Before you plan and develop
the product, you will need to break down the scenario presented by identifying
specifically what problem needs to be solved.
You will then use your case study to identify a range of IoT AFTHA techniques and
determine which are suitable for solving this problem and why.
You will employ the SDLC and produce evidentiary documentation in keeping with best
practice (software requirements specification, data distribution service etc.) to iteratively
design and develop an IoT application that meets the client’s brief.

Your project plan should include:

 an investigation of the AFTHA used in the development of IoT applications
 a discussion of the specific problem that Mushimba-Shikongo Grain wishes to
solve using IoT devices
 a plan for the most appropriate AFTHA to include in the solution to the problem
 the application of the selected techniques to the IoT development plan.

You should then develop the IoT application, using any combination of hardware,
software, data, platforms and services you feel necessary to solve the Mushimba-
Shikongo Grain problem scenario. Your development report should include:
 a demonstration of the selection of a set of appropriate tools to turn the
development plan into an IoT application
 a set of end-user experiments on the application, with feedback
 an examination and evaluation of the end-user feedback
 a determination of the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen IoT
techniques based on end-user feedback
 a clear demonstration of how user feedback has been used to create
multiple Iterations of the IoT application
 a description of how each Iteration has been modified to provide enhancements
based on user feedback and experimentation.

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 Project report
Finally, you will write an accompanying report, with your evidentiary documentation
appended, for your manager, evaluating the success of your final product. The evaluation
report must include:
 a review of the developed IoT application with a detailed description of the
problems that it solves
 an investigation of the potential problems that the IoT application might
encounter when integrating into the wider Mushimba-Shikongo Grain system
 a comparison of the final application with the original plan
 a critical evaluation of the overall success of the application, including the
potential impact of the IoT application on:
 people
 business and society the end user.

Recommended resources
Please note this is not a definitive list of resources but it will help you begin your
research by acting as a starting point of reference.
Websites
easternpeak.com Eastern Peak
“IoT in agriculture: 9 technology use cases for
smart farming (and challenges to consider)”
(Article)

electronicsinnovation.com Electronics Innovation

“Smart irrigation system project using IoT-
realtime-implementation)
(Article)

explodingtopics.com Exploding Topics

“6 important IoT trends for 2023–2025”
(Article)

www.geeksforgeeks.org GeeksforGeeks
“Architecture of internet of things (IoT)”
(Article)

iotdesignpro.com IoTDesignPro
“IoT based smart irrigation system using
NodeMCU ESP8266 & Adafruit IO”
(Article)

www.iottechtrends.com IoT TechTrends

“IoT architecture explained: What does it all
mean?”
(Article)

Effective assignment design for the Higher Nationals in Digital Technologies/ Digital Technologies for
England: Authorised Assignment Briefs – Issue 1 – May 2023 © Pearson Education Limited 2023 5
www.techtarget.com TechTarget
“Narrowband
IoT” (Article)

Journals and articles

Amaizu, M. and Okereafor, D.T. (2015) ‘Internet of things for Africa: Challenges and
opportunities’, 2015 International Conference on Cyberspace Governance. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2532.6162.
Ammar, M., Russello, G. and Crispo, B. (2018) ‘Internet of things: A survey on the security
of IoT frameworks’, Journal of Information Security and Applications, 38, pp. 8–27.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jisa.2017.11.002.
Kumar, R. (2021) ‘Review on advantages of REST architectures in APIs used for internet of
things, Central Asian Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, 2 (3), pp. 83–88.
Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3817631.
Kumar, S., Tiwari, P. and Zymbler, M. (2019) ‘Internet of things is a revolutionary
approach for future technology enhancement: a review’, Journal of Big Data, 6, 111.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-019-0268-2.
Paudel, N. and Neupane, R.C. (2021) ‘A general architecture for a real-time monitoring
system based on the internet of things’, Internet of Things, 14, 100367. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2021.100367.
Sethi, P. and Sarangi, S.R. (2017) ‘Internet of things: Architectures, protocols, and
applications’, Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, article 9324035. Available
at: https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/9324035.
Sorri, K., Mustafee, N. and Seppänen, M. (2022) ‘Revisiting IoT definitions: A framework
towards comprehensive use’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change,179, 121623.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121623.
Yang, Y., Wu, L., Yin, G., Li, L. and Zhao, H. (2017) ‘A survey on security and privacy
issues in Internet-of-Things’, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 4 (5), pp. 1250–1258. Available
at: https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2017.2694844.

Textbooks
Bahga, A. and Madisetti, V. (2014) Internet of Things: A Hands-On Approach. VPT.
Lea, P. (2020) Internet of Things for Architects: Architecting IoT solutions by
implementing sensors, communication infrastructure, edge computing, analytics, and
security. Birmingham: Packt Publishing.
McEwen, A. (2013) Designing the Internet of Things. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Narasimhan, G. and Janani, K. (2022) IOT Architecture and Protocols: Internet of Things.
London: OmniScriptum (Lambert Academic Publishing).
Russell, B. and Van Duren, D. (2018) Practical Internet of Things Security: Beat IoT
security threats by strengthening your security strategy and posture against IoT
vulnerabilities. 2nd Ed. Birmingham: Packt Publishing.

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6 England: Authorised Assignment Briefs – Issue 1 – May 2023 © Pearson
 HN Global
HN Global (2021) Reading Lists. Available at:
https://hnglobal.highernationals.com/learningzone/reading-lists
HN Global (2021) Student Resource Library. Available at:
https://hnglobal.highernationals.com/subjects/resource-libraries
HN Global (2021) Textbooks. Available at:
https://hnglobal.highernationals.com/textbooks

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England: Authorised Assignment Briefs – Issue 1 – May 2023 © Pearson Education Limited 2023 7