A Techno-Economic Perspective of Constrained Application Protocol

Abstract

Among billions of Internet enabled devices that are expected to surround us in the near future, many will be resource constrained, i.e., will have limited power supply, processing power and memory. To cope with these limitations, the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) has been recently introduced as a lightweight alternative to HTTP for connecting the resource limited devices to the Web. Although the new protocol offers solid technical advantages, it remains uncertain whether a successful uptake will follow, as it depends also on its economic feasibility for the involved stakeholders. Therefore, this paper studies the techno-economic feasibility of CoAP using a systematic methodological framework. Based on eleven expert interviews complemented with a literature survey, the paper identifies potential deployment challenges for CoAP, both technical and business-related, and suggests approaches to overcome them. The findings should facilitate the uptake of CoAP by supporting the potential adopters of the protocol in their decision-making.