The Internet of Things (IoT) is an environment in which objects have unique identifiers and can transfer data over a network. The Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) is a product deployed in a Policy Management network that interacts with Internet of Things (IoT) devices as a machine type communication interworking function (MTC-IWF).
An SCEF server can:
- Communicate with IoT devices using the T4, T6a/b, and T8 interfaces.
- Communicate with HSS servers using the Diameter S6m interface, and implement subscriber information retrieval using the Diameter commands Subscriber-Information-Request and Subscriber-Information-Answer.
- Trigger IoT devices using the Diameter commands Device-Trigger-Request and Device-Trigger-Answer.
- Communicate with SMSC devices for SMS delivery to IoT devices using the Diameter T4 interface.
- Monitor and report events.
- Implement the Diameter report procedures Device-Report-Request and Device-Report-Answer.
- Resolve and map external and network identifiers to IMSIs or MSISDNs.
- Create sessions and map session information across interfaces.
You can deploy the SCEF product in a Linux/KVM hypervisor managed by VIM, with OpenStack for resource management and reporting.
Figure 1 shows how SCEF servers interact with the other elements of a Policy Management network.
SCEF Servers in a Policy Management Network