ISO/IEC 20924:2024
(Main)Internet of Things (IoT) and digital twin - Vocabulary
Internet of Things (IoT) and digital twin - Vocabulary
ISO/IEC 20924:2024 is available as ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV which contains the International Standard and its Redline version, showing all changes of the technical content compared to the previous edition.ISO/IEC 20924:2024 provides a definition of Internet of Things and digital twin along with a set of terms and definitions. This document is a terminology foundation for the Internet of Things and digital twin. This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 2021. This edition constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
a) addition of new terms which are used in other ISO/IEC IoT related standards;
b) update of some definitions to align with current usage in IoT standards;
c) extension of digital twin related vocabularies with title and scope changes
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ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 3.0 2024-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Internet of things (IoT) and digital twin – Vocabulary
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either
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copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.
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3, rue de Varembé info@iec.ch
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
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About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
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ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 3.0 2024-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Internet of things (IoT) and digital twin – Vocabulary
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 35.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-8184-0
– 2 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 © ISO/IEC 2024
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
3.1 General terms . 5
3.2 Internet of Things specific terms . 9
3.3 Digital twin specific terms . 11
Bibliography . 14
INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND DIGITAL TWIN –
VOCABULARY
FOREWORD
1) ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission)
form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC
participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the
respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees
collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non-governmental,
in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC and ISO on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an
international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation
from all interested IEC and ISO National bodies.
3) IEC and ISO documents have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC and
ISO National bodies in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of
IEC and ISO documents is accurate, IEC and ISO cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used
or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC and ISO National bodies undertake to apply IEC and
ISO documents transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any
divergence between any IEC and ISO document and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be
clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC and ISO do not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC and ISO marks of conformity. IEC and ISO are not
responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this document.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC and ISO or their directors, employees, servants or agents including individual
experts and members of its technical committees and IEC and ISO National bodies for any personal injury,
property damage or other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including
legal fees) and expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this ISO/IEC document or any
other IEC and ISO documents.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this document. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this document.
9) IEC and ISO draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). IEC and ISO take no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent
rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC and ISO had not received notice of
(a) patent(s), which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this
may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at
https://patents.iec.ch and www.iso.org/patents. IEC and ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or
all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 20924 has been prepared by subcommittee 41: Internet of Things and Digital Twin, of
ISO/IEC joint technical committee 1: Information technology. It is an International Standard.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 2021. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
a) addition of new terms which are used in other ISO/IEC IoT related standards;
b) update of some definitions to align with current usage in IoT standards;
c) extension of digital twin related vocabularies with title and scope changes.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
JTC1-SC41/386/FDIS JTC1-SC41/404/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
– 4 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 © ISO/IEC 2024
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, and the ISO/IEC Directives, JTC 1 Supplement
available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs and www.iso.org/directives.
INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND DIGITAL TWIN –
VOCABULARY
1 Scope
This document provides a definition of Internet of Things and digital twin along with a set of
terms and definitions. This document is a terminology foundation for the Internet of Things and
digital twin.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
3.1 General terms
3.1.1
application
software designed to fulfil a particular purpose
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 24713-2:2008, 4.1, modified – "program or piece of" has been deleted from
the beginning of the definition.]
3.1.2
architecture
set of fundamental concepts or properties of an entity in its environment
Note 1 to entry: Governing principles are covered in the architecture description and are not part of the architecture.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2022, 3.2, modified – "set of" has been added to the beginning
of the definition, "and governing principles for the realization and evolution of this entity and its
related life cycle processes" has been deleted from the end of the definition, and Note 1 to entry
has been added.]
3.1.3
asset
entity (3.1.17) that has potential or actual value to an individual, an organization, a government,
or other groups
3.1.4
availability
property of being accessible and usable upon demand by an authorized entity (3.1.17)
Note 1 to entry: IoT systems (3.2.15) can include both human users (3.1.18) and service components as "authorized
entities".
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.7]
– 6 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 © ISO/IEC 2024
3.1.5
cloud computing
paradigm for enabling network (3.1.24) access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable
physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on demand
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.1.1, modified – Notes 1 and 2 to entry have been deleted.]
3.1.6
cloud service
one or more capabilities offered via cloud computing (3.1.5) invoked using a defined interface
(3.1.22)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.1.2]
3.1.7
cloud service provider
party that is acting in a cloud service provider role
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.3.3]
3.1.8
cloud service provider role
CSP role
set of activities that make cloud services available
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.3.15]
3.1.9
component
modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a system
[SOURCE: ISO 14813-5:2010, B.1.31, modified – "that encapsulates implementation and
exposes a set of interfaces" has been deleted from the end of the definition.]
3.1.10
confidentiality
property that information (3.1.21) is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals,
entities, or processes
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.10]
3.1.11
data
symbol or symbols represented in a digital and formalized manner suitable for communication,
storage, interpretation or processing
3.1.12
data store
persistent repository for data (3.1.11)
Note 1 to entry: A data store can be accessed by a single entity (3.1.17) or shared by multiple entities via a network
(3.1.24) or other connection.
3.1.13
digital entity
entity (3.1.17) that exists in the digital realm
Note 1 to entry: A digital entity can exist in several forms, including a cloud service (3.1.6) or as a service (3.1.28)
in a data centre, or as a network (3.1.24) element or as an IoT gateway (3.2.14).
3.1.14
discovery service
service (3.1.28) to find resources, entities or services based on a specification, keywords,
search terms, or tags of the desired target
Note 1 to entry: A discovery service can be used by a human user (3.1.18) or a digital user (3.2.4).
3.1.15
endpoint
component (3.1.8) that exposes and uses one or more network (3.1.24) interfaces (3.1.22)
3.1.16
endpoint address
character or group of characters that can be used to identify an endpoint (3.1.15),
which can designate the originating source or destination of data (3.1.11) being transmitted
3.1.17
entity
anything (physical or non-physical) having a distinct existence
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15459-3:2014, 3.1]
3.1.18
human user
natural person who uses a system
3.1.19
identifier
information (3.1.21) that unambiguously distinguishes one entity (3.1.17) from other entities in
a given identity context (3.1.20)
3.1.20
identity context
environment where an entity (3.1.17) can be sufficiently identified by a certain set of its
attributes and values
3.1.21
information
data (3.1.11) that within a certain context has a particular meaning
3.1.22
interface
shared boundary between two functional components (3.1.8), defined by various characteristics
pertaining to the functions, physical interconnections, signal exchanges, and other
characteristics
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.15, modified – In the definition, "units" has been replaced
by "components"; ", as appropriate" has been deleted from the end of the definition.]
3.1.23
interoperability
ability of two or more systems or applications (3.1.1) to exchange information (3.1.21) and to
mutually use the information that has been exchanged
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.6.1]
– 8 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 © ISO/IEC 2024
3.1.24
network
data network
digital network
infrastructure that connects a set of endpoints (3.1.15), enabling communica
...
ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 3.0 2024-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Internet of things (IoT) and digital twin – Vocabulary
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either
IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about ISO/IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.
IEC Secretariat Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
3, rue de Varembé info@iec.ch
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.
IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform IEC Products & Services Portal - products.iec.ch
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a Discover our powerful search engine and read freely all the
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical publications previews, graphical symbols and the glossary.
committee, …). It also gives information on projects, replaced With a subscription you will always have access to up to date
and withdrawn publications. content tailored to your needs.
IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published
The world's leading online dictionary on electrotechnology,
details all new publications released. Available online and once
containing more than 22 500 terminological entries in English
a month by email.
and French, with equivalent terms in 25 additional languages.
Also known as the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary
IEC Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc
(IEV) online.
If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or need
further assistance, please contact the Customer Service
Centre: sales@iec.ch.
ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 3.0 2024-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Internet of things (IoT) and digital twin – Vocabulary
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 35.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-8333-2
– 2 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV © ISO/IEC 2024
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
3.1 General terms . 5
3.2 Internet of Things specific terms . 10
3.3 Digital twin specific terms . 12
Bibliography . 15
INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND DIGITAL TWIN –
VOCABULARY
FOREWORD
1) ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission)
form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC
participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the
respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees
collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non-governmental,
in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC and ISO on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an
international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation
from all interested IEC and ISO National bodies.
3) IEC and ISO documents have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC and
ISO National bodies in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of
IEC and ISO documents is accurate, IEC and ISO cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used
or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC and ISO National bodies undertake to apply IEC and
ISO documents transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any
divergence between any IEC and ISO document and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be
clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC and ISO do not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC and ISO marks of conformity. IEC and ISO are not
responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this document.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC and ISO or their directors, employees, servants or agents including individual
experts and members of its technical committees and IEC and ISO National bodies for any personal injury,
property damage or other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including
legal fees) and expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this ISO/IEC document or any
other IEC and ISO documents.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this document. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this document.
9) IEC and ISO draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). IEC and ISO take no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent
rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC and ISO had not received notice of
(a) patent(s), which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this
may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at
https://patents.iec.ch and www.iso.org/patents. IEC and ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or
all such patent rights.
This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes
made to the previous edition ISO/IEC 20924:2021. A vertical bar appears in the margin
wherever a change has been made. Additions are in green text, deletions are in
strikethrough red text.
– 4 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV © ISO/IEC 2024
ISO/IEC 20924 has been prepared by subcommittee 41: Internet of Things and Digital Twin, of
ISO/IEC joint technical committee 1: Information technology. It is an International Standard.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 2021. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
a) addition of new terms which are used in other ISO/IEC IoT related standards;
b) update of some definitions to align with current usage in IoT standards;
c) extension of digital twin related vocabularies with title and scope changes.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
JTC1-SC41/386/FDIS JTC1-SC41/404/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, and the ISO/IEC Directives, JTC 1 Supplement
available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs and www.iso.org/directives.
IMPORTANT – The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.
INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND DIGITAL TWIN –
VOCABULARY
1 Scope
This document provides a definition of Internet of Things and digital twin along with a set of
terms and definitions. This document is a terminology foundation for the Internet of Things and
digital twin.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
3.1 General terms
3.1.1
application
software designed to fulfil a particular purpose
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 24713-2:2008, 4.1, modified – "program or piece of" has been removed
deleted from the beginning of the definition.]
3.1.2
architecture
set of fundamental concepts or properties of a system an entity in its environment
embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution
Note 1 to entry: Governing principles are covered in the architecture description and are not part of the architecture.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:20112022, 3.2, modified – "set of" has been added to the
beginning of the definition, "and governing principles for the realization and evolution of this
entity and its related life cycle processes" has been deleted from the end of the definition, and
Note 1 to entry has been added.]
3.1.3
asset
entity (3.1.17) that has potential or actual value and is either owned by or under the custody of
to an individual, an organization, a government, or other groups
– 6 – ISO/IEC 20924:2024 RLV © ISO/IEC 2024
3.1.4
availability
property of being accessible and usable upon demand by an authorized entity (3.1.17)
Note 1 to entry: IoT systems (3.2.15) can include both human users (3.1.18) and service components as "authorized
entities".
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.7]
3.1.6
characteristic
abstraction of a property of an entity or of a set of entities
[SOURCE: ISO 18104:2014, 3.1.4]
3.1.5
cloud computing
paradigm for enabling network (3.1.24) access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable
physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on demand
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.5 ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.1.1, modified – Notes 1 and 2
to entry have been deleted.]
3.1.6
cloud service
one or more capabilities offered via cloud computing (3.1.5) invoked using a defined interface
(3.1.22)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.8 ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.1.2]
3.1.7
cloud service provider
party which makes cloud services available that is acting in a cloud service provider role
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.15 ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.3.3]
3.1.8
cloud service provider role
CSP role
set of activities that make cloud services available
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22123-1:2023, 3.3.15]
3.1.10
compliance
conformance to rules, such as those defined by a law, a regulation, a standard, or a policy
3.1.9
component
modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a system
[SOURCE: ISO 14813-5:2010, B.1.31, modified – "that encapsulates implementation and
exposes a set of interfaces" has been deleted from the end of the definition.]
3.1.10
confidentiality
property that information (3.1.21) is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals,
entities, or processes
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.10]
3.1.11
data
symbol or symbols represented in a digital and formalized manner suitable for communication,
storage, interpretation or processing
3.1.12
data store
persistent repository for digital data (3.1.11)
Note 1 to entry: A data store can be accessed by a single entity (3.1.17) or shared by multiple entities via a network
(3.1.24) or other connection.
3.1.13
digital entity
computational element and/or data element
entity (3.1.17) that exists in the digital realm
Note 1 to entry: A digital entity can exist in several forms, including a cloud service (3.1.6) or as a service (3.1.28)
in a data centre, or as a network (3.1.24) element or as an IoT gateway (3.2.14).
3.1.14
discovery service
service (3.1.28) to find resources, entities or services based on a specification, keywords,
search terms, or tags of the desired target
Note 1 to entry: A discovery service can be used by a human user (3.1.18) or a digital user (3.2.4).
3.1.15
endpoint
component (3.1.8) that exposes or and uses one or more network (3.1.24) interfaces (3.1.22)
3.1.16
endpoint address
value character or group of characters that can be used to identify an endpoint
(3.1.15), which can designate the originating source or destination of data (3.1.11) being
transmitted
3.1.17
entity
anything (physical or non-physical) having a distinct existence
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15459-3:2014, 3.1]
3.1.19
functional component
functional building block needed to engage in an activity, backed by an implementation
Note 1 to entry: See also "component", which is a superset containing all functional componen
...
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