Projects

Copper (Cu) CoAP user-agent for Firefox

We introduce ‘Copper,’ a generic browser for the Internet of Things based on the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). Current estimates foresee that the number of networked embedded devices encompassed by the Internet of Things will be vast. Additionally, most systems will be optimized for the constrained environment with its limited energy and bandwidth. These factors make it difficult for users to observe and control the devices. Thus, a major problem will be node and network management, as experienced before in large wireless sensor network deployments. By adopting well-known patterns from the Web, such as browsing, bookmarking, and linking, we provide a user-friendly management tool for networked embedded devices. By integrating it into the Web browser, we allow for intuitive interaction and a presentation layer that is originally missing in the CoAP protocol suite.

Our JavaScript implementation was successfully tested at the ETSI IoT CoAP Plugtest in Paris, France, March 2012. It passed all mandatory and optional test with all the other implementations that supported them.

Repository

• GitHub
  git clone git://github.com/mkovatsc/Copper.git
• Release version at addons.mozilla.org
• Logo (512x512)
• Box (549x512)

Features

• URI handling for the 'coap' scheme (address bar, links, and bookmarks)
• Implements
  • draft-ietf-core-coap-03
  • draft-ietf-core-coap-06
  • draft-ietf-core-coap-08
  • draft-ietf-core-coap-12
  • draft-ietf-core-coap-13
• Resource discovery
• Blockwise transfers (both directions)
• Observing Resources
• Renderers for
  • application/link-format
  • application/json
  • image/* (that are supported by Firefox)
  • binary

Usage

• Simply enter a CoAP URI into the address bar or follow a CoAP link (e.g., coap://vs0.inf.ethz.ch/).
• After opening the location of a CoAP server click on ' Discover' to retrieve the available resources from /.well-known/core.
• At a resource location (e.g., coap://vs0.inf.ethz.ch/storage) use the buttons GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to interact. The responses will be displayed in the browser.
• A click on ' Observe' sends a GET request with the Observe option set. Another click removes the URI subscription again.
• Use the 'Behavior' menu and the 'Debug options' to further customize the requests and their handling.
• Frequently used CoAP resources can be bookmarked just like normal Web resources.
• For more detailed debug output, start Firefox with the switch -console (Windows) or in a terminal (Linux) and just check 'Print debug output to the console' in the add-on's options.
• Use the add-on options window or the toolbar button on the right to choose between drafts

Publication