Efficient application integration in IP-based sensor networks

Sensor networks are seen as an important part in emerging office and building energy management system, but the integration of sensor networks with future energy management systems is still an open problem. We present an IP-based sensor network system where nodes communicate their information using Web services, allowing direct integration in modern IT systems. Our system uses two mechanisms to provide a good performance and low-power operation: a session-aware power-saving radio protocol and the use of the HTTP Conditional GET mechanism. We perform an extensive evaluation of our system and show that Web services are a viable mechanism for use in low-power sensor networks. Our results show that Web service requests can be completed well below one second and with a low power consumption, even in a multi-hop setting.