New framework enhances IoT device onboarding with Wi-Fi

The Wireless Broadband Alliance has announced a new framework integrating FIDO Device Onboard and WBA OpenRoaming technologies to facilitate the onboarding process for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

The new framework, titled "OpenRoaming for IoT - FIDO Device Onboarding Framework," outlines a "zero-touch" onboarding process designed to address the complexities associated with large-scale IoT deployments. The initiative by the Wireless Broadband Alliance aims to simplify and secure the onboarding of IoT devices using Wi-Fi, akin to the existing standards for Wi-Fi device onboarding via OpenRoaming.

The integration of OpenRoaming and FIDO Device Onboard is seen as a pivotal development in Wi-Fi device onboarding. It presents a solution to the critical challenges plaguing large-scale IoT deployments by offering a secure, scalable, and automated process. Devices, particularly those lacking user interfaces and other pre-configured FIDO IoT devices, can leverage OpenRoaming to be onboarded directly out of the box. This process allows devices to receive new OpenRoaming credentials for continuous connectivity or credentials for a permanent connection to a private Wi-Fi network.

Historically, Wi-Fi-based IoT devices have struggled with complex manual onboarding processes, which hindered their large-scale deployment. By utilising the global OpenRoaming network comprising millions of hotspots, the new approach facilitates a smoother onboarding process, expediting the integration of Wi-Fi-based IoT devices across various sectors, including smart cities, manufacturing, and logistics.

Key benefits of this proposed framework include the automation of device onboarding, enhancing operational efficiency and ensuring secure authentication. The integration of OpenRoaming and FIDO Device Onboard also illustrates how pre-configured credentials can enable seamless device connectivity across multiple networks. Additionally, it covers alternative network environments, addressing complex deployment and provisioning challenges, and ensures supply chain security via ownership vouchers and cryptographic mechanisms.

Tiago Rodrigues, the Chief Executive Officer of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, commented: "This new framework will turbocharge secure and efficient IoT device deployments, overcoming the challenges of onboarding IoT devices into a Wi-Fi network. This framework standardizes OpenRoaming for FDO, encouraging a widespread adoption and cross-industry collaboration, and will enable a wide range of industries to benefit from improved operational efficiency and security across their IoT devices into Wi-Fi networks."

Tomas Bäckström, Director of Delivery Services at Enea, added: "Since 2018, our vision has been to enable secure, automatic Wi-Fi onboarding by harnessing existing Wi-Fi IoT device certificates. This requires a united, industry-wide effort, and WBA is the ideal body to lead the charge. This framework could be a game-changer in solving long-standing challenges for large-scale deployments across industries like smart cities and logistics, and we eagerly anticipate seeing the first devices hit the market."

Dr. Necati Canpolat, a Senior Staff Wireless Architect at Intel and WBA Board Director, also expressed his views: "WBA's work on zero-touch onboarding with OpenRoaming and managing the ownership of industrial IoT devices with FIDO will address a critical industry challenge and facilitate large-scale deployments of these devices. Intel is proud to lead this initiative at WBA."