GB/Z 41385-2022General technical requirements of M2M service (English PDF)

Foreword

This document was drafted in accordance with the rules given in GB/T 1.1-2020, Directives for standardization - Part 1: Rules for the structure and drafting of standardizing documents.

This document is one of the series of documents on M2M services. The titles and structure of the series are as follows: GB/Z 41385 General technical requirements of M2M service; GB/Z 41383 Technical requirements of M2M application communication protocol; GB/Z 41384 Technical requirements of M2M service platform; GB/T 37294 Technical requirements of service capability of M2M terminal devices.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. The issuing body of this document shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document was proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China and is under the jurisdiction of the National Technical Committee on Communication of Standardization Administration of China (SAC/TC 485).

The drafting organizations of this document are China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China Telecom Group Co., Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd.

The main drafters of this document are Wang Hongmei, Liu Yue, Liu Wei, Xiao Qing, Niu Yawen, Wang Chongping, Zhao Lijun, Wu Wei, Wang Yi, Zhu Jinwen, Wang Xiangjun, Xu Peili, Wang Peng, Zhang Ying, Zhang Fengquan and Hu Changwei.

1 Scope

This document specifies, for the provision of M2M services, the service function requirements on the telecommunication network, the system functional architecture, the system logical function modules, the charging requirements, the interface requirements, service security, etc.

This document applies to M2M service systems.

2 Normative references

There are no normative references in this document.

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations

3.1 Terms and definitions. For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply. 3.1.1 M2M (machine to machine/man): communication between machines, or between machines and people. 3.1.2 M2M service platform: the management platform for M2M services. 3.1.3 M2M application: an application providing M2M services.

3.2 Abbreviations. For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations apply: BOSS - Business & Operation Support System; M2M - Machine to Machine/Man; QoS - Quality of Service.

4 Overview of M2M

4.1 Definition of M2M service. M2M is the abbreviation of Machine to Machine/Man. It is a networked application and service centred on the intelligent interaction of machine terminal devices. By embedding communication modules inside machines and connecting the machines to the network through various bearer modes, it provides customers with comprehensive information solutions meeting their needs for monitoring, command and dispatch, data acquisition and measurement. Typical M2M service scenarios are given in Annex A.

4.2 Classification of M2M. 4.2.1 By communication object, M2M falls into three main categories: machine-to-machine, machine-to-person and person-to-machine communication. 4.2.2 By user type, M2M can be divided into enterprise applications, household applications and personal applications. 4.2.3 By the communication mode connecting the terminal device to the M2M service platform, M2M services can be divided into SMS services, MMS services, packet-domain bearer services, wireline services, etc.

4.2.4 By service type, according to the service content provided by the operator, M2M services can be divided into application-type services, terminal-device-management-type services and channel-type services. Application-type services: the customer rents the operator's network, applications and terminal device management services, and the operator provides an end-to-end M2M solution. Terminal-device-management-type services: the customer rents the operator's network and the operator provides the data channel and terminal device management; the M2M service platform is built by the customer, and the terminal devices connect to the operator's monitoring and management platform for unified monitoring and management. Channel-type services: the customer rents the operator's network; the operator does not manage the terminal devices and only provides the data transmission channel.

4.3 M2M service bearer technologies. M2M bearer technologies include SMS, MMS, packet-domain bearer, wireline, etc. SMS is used between the M2M service platform and M2M terminal devices to transfer small amounts of service data, command information, management information, parameter information, alarm information, etc. MMS is used between the platform and terminal devices mainly to transfer monitoring information collected by the terminal devices. Packet-domain bearer is used mainly to transfer large amounts of service data and for software upgrades of terminal devices. Wireline communication is used mainly to upload large volumes of monitoring information to the M2M service platform.

4.4 M2M service characteristics. M2M services obtain information about objects in the physical world through sensing and intelligent devices, analyse and intelligently process the sensed information, interact with communication objects and complete the application-related service logic. M2M applications are very diverse and their characteristics differ: for example, in health-care vital-sign monitoring, ordinary vital-sign data need only be sent periodically or on events, requiring little data and little bandwidth, while data in emergencies must be sent in real time with a high QoS level; video surveillance services need to transfer large amounts of monitoring information and high network bandwidth. Compared with traditional services such as voice, M2M applications show differentiated and diversified communication characteristics.

The service characteristics are: environment sensing - M2M applications can sense the surrounding environment through sensors and other sensing devices and obtain environmental information automatically; self-organization - nodes can join the network dynamically and intelligently, with a networked distributed architecture and self-recovery capability; heterogeneous access - multiple access and bearer modes are integrated for seamless access, so that any object (person or device) can obtain the information and services it needs anytime and anywhere in a suitable way; mobility - M2M terminal devices have different mobility characteristics (fixed, low-speed or high-speed), and the network can support movement and roaming of objects with different mobility, seamless handover and mobility management, providing a continuous service experience.

Further characteristics: openness - the capabilities of every layer of the M2M network are open and offered through standard interfaces, helping service providers to develop and deploy rich services quickly and flexibly; manageability and controllability - a unified management platform exercises management and control over the interconnected network equipment, achieving integrated management of the whole network, including access authentication of terminal devices and services and QoS assurance; convergence/collaboration - digital and multimedia information services are integrated into daily work, production and life, with information integration and service collaboration at the core of ubiquitous services, the network providing integrated information and communication services to all industries; security - M2M services shall provide end-to-end secure transmission from the machine terminal device to the application service, and the network, as the data transmission intermediary between terminal layer and application service, shall authenticate and authorize both parties of the data transmission.

5 M2M service requirements

Different M2M services have different requirements on network bandwidth, real-time performance, data security, terminal device mobility and connection duration. Typical requirements of M2M applications are: communication assurance with committed quality of service, providing different QoS levels for different M2M application needs; end-to-end service security - existing mobile security systems are based on authentication of the user card, whereas in machine services the core of data collection and control of the external environment is the machine, and in the existing service network terminal devices and user cards do not have equivalent security assurance, so the security of machine communication is a function M2M services must support as a priority; the M2M system shall be able to address the various M2M terminal devices and terminal peripherals; group management, allowing several M2M terminal device nodes with the same function to form a group on which the same operations can be performed simultaneously.

Further requirements: remote management of terminal devices - since M2M terminal devices are usually unattended, remote management is the most basic feature of M2M services, including remote parameter configuration and remote software upgrade; remote management of terminal peripherals, including remotely controlling peripherals joining or leaving the network and setting their sleep period and information reporting policy; data transfer of different traffic volumes, e.g. large amounts of video data in video surveillance versus small amounts of data in smart meter reading; multiple access modes supporting fixed and mobile terminal devices; scalability of the number of terminal devices, so that new devices can easily join the network; multiple information delivery modes including unicast, multicast, anycast and broadcast.

Also: support for terminal devices with different mobility (fixed, low-speed or high-speed), with roaming and handover for mobile terminal devices to give users a consistent service experience; support for the sleep mode of terminal devices - since many M2M terminal devices have no mains power supply and saving energy is important, some devices enter a sleep state after working for a period according to a policy, and after the sleep ends the M2M terminal device shall be able to receive the data sent during the sleep period.

6 System architecture

6.1 Overview. The M2M system architecture is divided into the application layer, the common service layer, the network service layer, the M2M terminal and sensing extension layer, and the management support system, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows the M2M application at the top connected through the Mca interface to the M2M service platform, which contains a service capability set (M2M device management, group management, external capability invocation, resource management, data storage and forwarding, access control) and a common capability set (identifier management and addressing, charging, security, access control); the platform connects through Mcn interfaces via the core network and cellular, fixed-access and WLAN networks to M2M gateways (with M2M capillary networks, M2M terminals and terminal peripherals) and to M2M terminals with terminal peripherals; a management support system with network management system and charging system runs alongside all layers.

6.2 Application layer. M2M applications interact with the M2M service platform through standardized interfaces to query and process data of terminal devices and to control and manage terminal devices via the platform. The M2M service platform can support various M2M applications, such as health care, smart home and smart metering; M2M applications may be provided by operators, system integrators, service providers or users.

6.3 Common service layer. Besides common capabilities such as routing and addressing, authentication and authorization, QoS management, charging and security, the M2M service platform provides service functions such as M2M terminal and gateway management, M2M terminal peripheral and capillary network management, subscription management, data management and service control, and invokes capabilities of the existing network. Downwards it provides M2M terminal device access, shielding the access differences of terminal devices through a unified interface; upwards it provides application access control, exposing platform capabilities to applications through a unified interface. Function modules can be classified by the objects they serve: towards terminal devices - terminal device access control, M2M terminal and gateway management, M2M terminal peripheral and capillary network management, subscription management, data management; towards applications - application access control, subscription management, data management, service control; towards support - QoS control, charging, security, routing and addressing, and authentication and authorization.

6.4 Network service layer. The network service layer comprises the access network and the core network. The access network provides terminal device access, supporting 2G, 3G, 4G, wireline and WLAN access modes; the main function of the core network is to provide network communication and service bearer.

6.5 M2M terminal and sensing extension layer. By capability, M2M terminal devices are of two kinds. The M2M terminal has the capability to communicate with the M2M communication network; it can access the M2M service platform directly through the communication network, interact with the platform to complete registration, authentication and authorization, provide the sensing information needed by applications, interact with applications through the platform, and receive management of terminal peripherals. The M2M gateway can communicate with both the M2M communication network and the M2M capillary network; besides connecting the capillary network and sensing devices to the network, it can receive management information for capillary network nodes and performs protocol conversion between the capillary network and the communication network. Terminal peripherals are sensors and similar terminals for environment sensing and data collection with limited processing, storage and power resources, capable only of short-range communication; a single such terminal is called a terminal peripheral, and a network of several such nodes is called an M2M capillary network.

6.6 Management support system. The management support system consists of the network management system and the BOSS. The BOSS performs user profile management, charging, billing and settlement; the network management system performs configuration management, performance management, fault management, security management and self-management of the system.

7 System logical function modules and function description

7.1 Application layer. M2M application: provides customers with various M2M application services. The M2M application platform communicates with the M2M service platform through a unified open interface to provide users with various application services.

7.2 Common service layer. M2M service platform: supports multiple network access modes and provides customers using M2M application services with unified M2M terminal and gateway management, terminal peripheral and M2M sensing capillary network management and terminal device authentication; it provides standardized interfaces that make data transfer simple and direct, and provides data management, routing and addressing, terminal management, authentication and QoS control. Its service capabilities are divided by function into: a) common capabilities - security (authentication, authorization, key handling and other security mechanisms); charging (charging for the use of platform service capabilities and generating charging records); identifier management and addressing (assigning identifiers to M2M terminals, gateways and applications at the service and transport control levels and keeping identifiers unique); access control (registration, re-registration and deregistration of M2M terminals, gateways and applications).

b) Service capabilities - access control (setting and updating access rights of M2M terminals, gateways and applications); data storage and forwarding (the platform aggregates and stores data collected by terminal peripherals, registration information and device management information, and forwards data where access rights permit); group management (creating, updating and deleting groups, with batch access to group members); device management (supporting one or more management protocols, e.g. YD/T 2398-2012, to manage M2M terminal peripherals, M2M terminals and M2M gateways through a unified interface); external capability invocation (invoking network capabilities, support capabilities and service capabilities of the existing network); resource management (providing a unified resource description and modelling method for M2M service capabilities, applications, terminals and gateways, supporting mutual discovery and shared use of heterogeneous devices and service resources).

7.3 Network service layer. It comprises the access network and the core network. The access network provides the function of connecting M2M terminals and gateways to the M2M service platform, including 2G, 3G, 4G, fixed access and WLAN, and provides M2M data bearer; the core network mainly performs network communication and service bearer.

7.4 M2M terminal and sensing extension layer. M2M capillary network: composed of nodes such as sensors with information collection, simple processing and communication capability, whose purpose is to collaboratively sense and collect information on monitored objects within the network coverage and send the monitoring data to the M2M gateway, which transmits the sensed data through the communication network to the M2M service platform or application for analysis and processing. Terminal peripheral: a single device such as a sensor with environment sensing function, which sends sensed information through the M2M gateway or M2M terminal to the M2M service platform and can receive downlink control from the M2M application or platform.

M2M gateway: because of their limited processing, storage and power, capillary networks and terminal peripherals cannot communicate directly with the communication network and access it through the M2M gateway, which performs protocol conversion between the capillary network and upper networks; besides aggregating and forwarding data collected by the capillary network and terminal peripherals, it can receive control information from the platform and manage them. M2M terminal: has the capability to communicate with the M2M service platform and can independently interact with it to provide the service information required by applications; it can receive remote activation commands from the platform, accept platform or local parameter configuration, and perform local fault alarms, data communication, remote software upgrade, data statistics and end-to-end communication interaction.

7.5 Management support system. BOSS: provides user profile management, charging, billing and settlement; registers user profiles, starts or stops service to users, calculates in real time the charges incurred for M2M services according to different tariff packages, calculates user bills in quasi-real time and periodically, and settles user service fees in real time or periodically. Network management system: performs configuration management, performance management, fault management, security management and self-management of the system.

8 Interface requirements

Mca: the interface between the M2M service platform and M2M applications. Through it, M2M applications send service requests to the platform and read configuration, statistics and monitoring information of M2M terminal devices; after receiving information from terminal devices, the platform sends it to the applications through this interface. The platform exposes its capabilities to M2M applications through Mca, providing a unified external interface. M2M applications also send registration requests to the platform through Mca, and authentication and authorization between platform and application are performed.

Mcn: the interface between the M2M service platform and M2M terminals and gateways. Through it the platform connects to M2M terminals and gateways using various access modes; messages from M2M applications are forwarded by the platform to gateways or terminals, and status and data information from terminals and gateways is sent to the platform. Terminal control information and data query requests from applications or the platform are sent through Mcn to gateways or terminals, and response messages processed by terminals and gateways are returned through this interface. The Mcn interface supports different communication and bearer modes.

9 Charging requirements

The common service layer needs to define tariff standards and charging policies for the various services and manage users' service usage and charges.

The common service layer collects, interprets and processes the usage of network resources and produces charging reports, including charging statistics, bill notification and accounting, to calculate the cost of network resource usage by applications and provide the basis for charging. These network resources generally include network services, such as data transmission, and network applications, such as the use of servers.

The common service layer needs to provide complete M2M charging functions, including charging based on M2M service traffic and charging modes based on events, service provision duration, application type, etc. The specific charging mode is defined by the operator according to the characteristics of the M2M service.

10 Authentication and authorization

When M2M terminals and gateways register and log in to the M2M service platform, the platform needs to perform access authorization of the terminals and gateways, and the terminals and gateways also need to authenticate the platform; only when mutual authentication between the terminal or gateway and the platform succeeds can the terminal or gateway access the platform. When terminals and gateways initiate service flows to the platform, the platform also performs service authorization to determine whether they are entitled to initiate the service. When an M2M application accesses the platform or sends it a service request, the platform likewise authorizes the application.

When users or administrators with different rights log in to the M2M service platform, identity authentication is required, and users or administrators can only perform network operations matching their identity.

11 Network management

The M2M network management system needs to provide the following network management functions.

11.1 Configuration management. Operator configuration management: creating operators and setting rights for newly created operators, modifying operators' management rights, and deleting operators. M2M terminal and gateway configuration management: terminal device parameter setting, terminal device software configuration and communication mode setting. 11.2 Fault and alarm management. The system collects and processes fault alarm information from all parts of the system (including the M2M service platform and the M2M terminal and sensing extension layer), including alarms related to process start/stop, performance anomaly alarms and service processing anomaly alarms; alarms are classified and recorded in the system log and displayed through a graphical user interface.

11.3 Performance management. Supports collection and organization of M2M system equipment performance data and service performance data, providing data support for decision-making and analysis by the relevant departments. The M2M service platform can customize the collection period, collect M2M service performance statistics, and provide real-time service performance data viewing, historical service performance statistics viewing and report output. 11.4 Security management. Security management mainly protects network resources and equipment from illegal access and manages the keys in the encryption mechanism. It needs to address: privacy of network data, protecting it from illegal acquisition by intruders; authorization, preventing intruders from sending false information on the network; access control, controlling access to network resources.

12 Service security

Service security requirements include confidentiality and integrity of user information and availability of the service itself. The M2M service system needs to provide data encryption, authentication and authorization, user identity authentication and application access authentication to ensure the legitimacy of users, the confidentiality and integrity of user information and the availability of the service.

Annex A (informative) Typical M2M service scenarios

M2M applications are very wide, covering electric power, water resources, agriculture, industrial monitoring and automation, medical care and household life, and have entered all aspects of people's work, life, study and leisure. Some typical M2M service scenarios are listed below.

A.1 Health care. Vital-sign monitoring: Person A is a hyperglycaemia patient whose health is monitored by several sensors measuring body temperature, pulse and blood glucose concentration. The sensing devices transmit A's vital-sign information to the network according to a set policy, and A's attending doctor and family can receive or query the data. When a vital-sign indicator exceeds a threshold, the sensing devices automatically notify the emergency centre and send messages to the attending doctor and family.

A.2 Smart meter reading. A smart electricity meter reading system is installed in the user's home, so that power company staff no longer need to read meters and collect fees monthly. The user's monthly energy consumption is uploaded to the power company's network system at intervals or on fixed days according to a policy; the company deducts charges from the user's account based on the consumption data uploaded by the smart meter and notifies the user by SMS or automatic e-mail when the balance is insufficient. The company can also adjust the electricity price automatically according to consumption in each time period; users can see price changes in real time on the smart meter and reduce appliance use when prices are high, saving costs and smoothing consumption peaks to avoid supply shortages.

A.3 Smart home. When Person B returns home from work, the door access device recognizes his face, detects the electronic key in his pocket and opens the door automatically. When B enters or leaves a room, the Home Central Control (HCC) switches the room lights on or off accordingly, and triggers and adjusts the heating system based on indoor and outdoor temperature, online weather forecasts and user preferences. When the HCC detects an anomaly such as a gas leak, it sends a warning message to B's mobile terminal and cuts off the power automatically. B, at the office, connects to the HCC and clicks the 'Home repairs' button, and the gas company receives detailed information from the HCC. The repairman sent by the gas company carries a dedicated wireless ID card; the HCC detects and verifies the card before letting him into the house, and he can talk with B through the video panel on the refrigerator. After the repair, the insurance company automatically receives a damage report from the HCC.

A.4 Video surveillance. A department responsible for managing city departments and public events needs to know the real-time situation at key locations and enforce the law quickly on site. It sets up monitoring points on main roads to view images of each section in real time. Field patrol staff are equipped with law-enforcement terminal devices to view the status of road sections in their area at any time during mobile enforcement and detect problems promptly; after an incident, the surveillance video can be reviewed to find the cause and determine responsibility, so that the incident is handled promptly and accurately.

Bibliography

[1] YD/T 2398-2012 General technical requirements of M2M service.