Network Working Group C. Bormann
Internet-Draft Universitaet Bremen TZI
Intended status: Standards Track March 19, 2020
Expires: September 20, 2020

Additional Units for SenML
draft-ietf-core-senml-more-units-latest

Abstract

The Sensor Measurement Lists (SenML) media type supports the indication of units for a quantity represented. This short document registers a number of additional unit names in the IANA registry for Units in SenML. It also defines a registry for secondary units that cannot be in SenML’s main registry as they are derived by linear transformation from units already in that registry.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The Sensor Measurement Lists (SenML, [RFC8428]) media type supports the indication of a unit, using the SenML field “u”, for the quantity given as a data value in a SenML record. For this purpose, SenML defines an IANA registry of defined Unit names and their meanings; in the present document, we call the Unit names registered there “primary Unit names”.

This short document registers a number of additional units in the IANA registry for Units in SenML that appear to be necessary for further adopting SenML in other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs).

The document also defines a registry for secondary Unit names that cannot be in SenML’s main registry as they are derived by linear transformation from units already in that registry. Although SenML version 10 [RFC8428] does not provide for the direct use of these secondary units, they are planned to be supported via the use of SenML extension mechanisms, one of which is proposed in [I-D.bormann-core-senml-versions].

The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “NOT RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

2. New Primary Units

IANA is requested to assign new units in the “SenML Units” subregistry of the SenML registry [IANA.senml] (as defined in [RFC8428]):

New units registered for SenML
Symbol Description Type Reference
B Byte (information content) float RFCthis
VA volt-ampere (Apparent Power) float RFCthis
VAs volt-ampere second (Apparent Energy) float RFCthis
var volt-ampere reactive (Reactive Power) float RFCthis
vars volt-ampere reactive second (Reactive Energy) float RFCthis
J/m joule per meter (Energy per distance) float RFCthis
kg/m3 kilogram per cubic meter (mass density, mass concentration) float RFCthis
deg degree (angle)* float RFCthis

2.1. Rationale

SenML [RFC8428] takes the position that unscaled SI units should always be used. However, SenML makes one exception: The degree Celsius (as Cel) is allowed as an alternative to the K (Kelvin).

This document takes the position that the same should apply to a small number of alternative units in wide use:

The unit “degrees” is in wide use in practice for plane angles (as in heading, bearing, etc.). It is marked with an asterisk because the preferred coherent SI unit is radian (“rad”).

The Joule per meter is not a traditional electromagnetic unit. It and its scaled derivatives (in particular Wh/km) are used to describe the energy expended for achieving motion over a given distance, e.g., as an equivalent for electrical cars of the inverse of “mileage”.

3. New Registry for Secondary Units

IANA is requested to create a “secondary units” subregistry in the SenML registry [IANA.senml] defined in [RFC8428].

The registry has six columns:

Quantities expressed in the secondary unit can be converted into the SenML unit by first multiplying their value with the scale number and then adding the offset, yielding the value in the given SenML unit.

The initial content of the secondary units registry is provided in Table 2:

Secondary units registered for SenML
secondary unit description SenML unit scale off set refer- ence
ms millisecond s 1/1000 0 RFCthis
min minute s 60 0 RFCthis
h hour s 3600 0 RFCthis
MHz megahertz Hz 1000000 0 RFCthis
kW kilowatt W 1000 0 RFCthis
kVA kilovolt-ampere VA 1000 0 RFCthis
kvar kilovar var 1000 0 RFCthis
Ah ampere-hour C 3600 0 RFCthis
Wh watt-hour J 3600 0 RFCthis
kWh kilowatt-hour J 3600000 0 RFCthis
varh var-hour vars 3600 0 RFCthis
kvarh kilovar-hour vars 3600000 0 RFCthis
kVAh kilovolt-ampere-hour VAs 3600000 0 RFCthis
Wh/km watt-hour per kilometer J/m 3.6 0 RFCthis
KiB kibibyte B 1024 0 RFCthis
GB gigabyte B 1e9 0 RFCthis
Mbit/s megabit per second bit/s 1000000 0 RFCthis
B/s byte per second bit/s 8 0 RFCthis
MB/s megabyte per second bit/s 8000000 0 RFCthis
mV millivolt V 1/1000 0 RFCthis
mA milliampere A 1/1000 0 RFCthis
dBm decibel (milliwatt) dBW 1 -30 RFCthis
ug/m3 microgram per cubic meter kg/m3 1e-9 0 RFCthis
mm/h millimeter per hour m/s 1/3600000 0 RFCthis
m/h meter per hour m/s 1/3600 0 RFCthis
ppm parts per million / 1e-6 0 RFCthis
/100 percent (Note 1) / 1/100 0 RFCthis
/1000 permille / 1/1000 0 RFCthis
hPa hectopascal Pa 100 0 RFCthis
mm millimeter m 1/1000 0 RFCthis
cm centimeter m 1/100 0 RFCthis
km kilometer m 1000 0 RFCthis
km/h kilometer per hour m/s 1/3.6 0 RFCthis

Note 1: This registration does not use the obvious name “%” because this name has been taken in [RFC8428] already, where it is a NOT RECOMMENDED synonym for “/” (unity) for legacy reasons. Note that the presence of both “%” and “/100” with different meanings is likely to create confusion, so the present document adds some weight to the recommendation against using the counterintuitive unit name “%”.

Example: the value of a quantity given as 100 ms is first multiplied by 1/1000, yielding the number 0.1, and then the offset 0 is added, yielding the number 0.1 again, leading to a quantity of 0.1 s. The value of a quantity given as 10 dBm is first multiplied by 1, yielding the number 10, and then the offset -30 is added, yielding the number -20, leading to a quantity of -20 dBW.

New entries can be added to the registration by Expert Review as defined in [RFC8126]. Experts should exercise their own good judgment, with the same guidelines as used for SenML units (Section 12.1 of [RFC8428]), but without applying the rules 4, 5, and 8. Note that rule 7 limits the use of what could be understood as prefixes on their own, not the use of prefixes inside secondary unit names. Guidelines to the difference between units (which can go into the registry) and quantities (which cannot) are widely available, see for instance [RS] and [BIPM].

As of SenML version 10 [RFC8428], SenML packs are limited to using primary units in “u” fields. The use of primary units enables direct comparison of measurements from different sources. Also, it facilitates implementations that trigger on the presence of a quantity in a certain unit, without the need to track any additional secondary units that may be registered for this quantity.

Where the benefits of directly using a secondary unit in a SenML pack outweigh the above considerations, the use of secondary units in “u” fields MAY be enabled by indicating a new SenML version that specifically allows this and/or by using a field with a label name that ends with the “_” character (“must-understand” field) whose definition specifically allows this. The definition of these versions and fields is outside the scope of the present specification; one such definition is proposed in [I-D.bormann-core-senml-versions].

4. Operational Considerations

The secondary unit registry is expected to grow at a faster pace than the registry of primary unit names. It also is amenable to automatic interpretation, by making use of the scale and offset columns.

Implementers may be tempted to equip each instance of their systems with code to download new versions of the registry from IANA frequently, in order to be able to make use of newly defined secondary unit names. This can create high load at IANA and a potential single point of failure. Instead of pulling the registry in each individual instance of the code, the software update mechanism (or a similar mechanism that leads to less frequent IANA visits) SHOULD be used to disseminate updated units registries obtained from IANA towards the instances via common repositories.

5. Security Considerations

The security considerations of [RFC8428] apply.

The introduction of new measurement units poses no additional security considerations except from a possible potential for additional confusion about the proper unit to use, and from the risk that an implementation based on the assumption described in the penultimate paragraph of Section 3 no longer works properly. However, an implementation processing a pack while making use of secondary units is guaranteed to have been developed with an awareness of the risks of having multiple units available for the same logical type. In any case, the existing risk of an existing SenML implementation not understanding a unit that was not in the initial registry content provided in [RFC8428], is unchanged, and implementations are warned properly about the potential use of secondary units by the need for a must-understand field or an updated version field.

6. IANA Considerations

See Section 2 and Section 3.

7. References

7.1. Normative References

[IANA.senml] IANA, "Sensor Measurement Lists (SenML)"
[IEC-80000-13] "Quantities and units – Part 13: Information science and technology", IEC 80000-13, Edition 1.0, March 2008.
[IEC-80000-6] "Quantities and units – Part 6: Electromagnetism", IEC 80000-6, Edition 1.0, March 2008.
[IEEE-1459] "IEEE Standard Definitions for the Measurement of Electric Power Quantities Under Sinusoidal, Nonsinusoidal, Balanced, or Unbalanced Conditions", IEEE Std 1459-2010, March 2010.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997.
[RFC8126] Cotton, M., Leiba, B. and T. Narten, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017.
[RFC8428] Jennings, C., Shelby, Z., Arkko, J., Keranen, A. and C. Bormann, "Sensor Measurement Lists (SenML)", RFC 8428, DOI 10.17487/RFC8428, August 2018.

7.2. Informative References

[BIPM] Bureau International des Poids es Mesures, "The International System of Units (SI), 9th edition", 2019.
[I-D.bormann-core-senml-versions] Bormann, C., "SenML Features and Versions", Internet-Draft draft-bormann-core-senml-versions-01, March 2020.
[RS] Rohde&Schwarz, "Standard-compliant usage of quantities, units and equations", version 4.0, November 2016.

Acknowledgements

Ari Keranen pointed out the need for additional units in SenML. Comments provided by him as well as by Thomas Fossati, Joaquin Prado, Jaime Jimenez, Benjamin Kaduk, and Rob Wilton helped improve the document.

Author's Address

Carsten Bormann Universitaet Bremen TZI Postfach 330440 Bremen, D-28359 Germany Phone: +49-421-218-63921 EMail: cabo@tzi.org