NIMBLE collaborative platform: Microservice architectural approach to federated IoT

Abstract: This paper presents our architectural approach to
building a collaborative Industry 4.0 platform that enables
IoT-based real-time monitoring, optimization and negotiation
in manufacturing supply chains. The platform is called
NIMBLE and is currently being developed in a European
research project. The presented approach utilizes microservice
technology, and implements the core business functionality of
the platform through a composition of decentralized, scalable
services. The communication among services, and with
platform users, manufacturers, suppliers, sensors and Web
resources, is supported through simple protocols and
lightweight mechanisms. Core business services of the
implemented architecture are released as open source
software, enabling multiple prospective platform-providers to
establish B2B marketplaces for collaboration within their own
industrial sector or region. To demonstrate microservices in
practice, we present two scenarios, both related to
manufacturing of wooden home buildings: one is IoT-based
data sharing in a supply chain, and the other deals with
product driven logistics planning. The further development of
the platform will be driven by the requirements of at least four
different use cases throughout Europe, and by incorporating
advanced business models to support the growth of powerful
network effects of the platform.