Eclipse VOStack

The Eclipse VOStack project delivers a multi-layer software framework that virtualizes IoT devices into interoperable Virtual Objects, enabling standardized management, semantic abstraction, service composition, and seamless integration with edge/coud technologies.

Eclipse VOStack is aligned with the W3C Web of Things Standard.

A Virtual Object (VO) is a virtual counterpart of an IoT device. It provides abstractions for managing any type of IoT device while augmenting the supported functionalities through a multi-layer software stack, called VO Stack.

A VO serves several important purposes which help to overcome the limitations described above:

• Semantic abstraction: Provides a standard representation of a physical device for easier management, monitoring, and discovery of device resources.
• Interoperability: Can be used in heterogeneous scenarios to bridge communication between different standards and protocols.
• Data modelling: Enables the use of different data modellings for different purposes, leveraging physical devices for complex data model transmission.
• Service composition: Composite Virtual Objects (cVOs) can be composed to extend the functionalities offered by one or multiple VOs under different interaction schemes.
• Simulation and testing: In its Digital-Twin (DT) extension, the VOs and cVOs can be used to simulate physical device behavior in a virtual environment before deployment, as well as to support real-time interaction and guidance of the DT.
• Remote management and accessibility: The VO enables continuous data access and remote management where physical device access can be limited or impractical.
• Resource consumption: It can leverage the physical device.
• Orchestration/Management interfaces: The VO can be managed by edge/cloud orchestration platforms, while also being part of distributed application graphs.

Eclipse VO Stack supports interaction with both physical IoT devices and edge/cloud computing orchestration platforms. It has three main architectural layers namely: 

1. Physical Convergence Layer to tackle the major challenges of connecting the IoT devices with the computing continuum infrastructure
2. Edge/Cloud Convergence Layer for bringing the VO closer to the application and orchestration layer.
3. Backend Logic Layer for augmenting the functionalities and capabilities of IoT devices