A multi-channel architecture for IPv6-enabled wireless sensor and actuator networks featuring PnP support

Wireless sensor and actuator networks provide a distributed system composed of wirelessly connected smart sensor and actuator nodes, suitable for cost-efficient control applications. An important research challenge is deployment, where features like node auto-configuration, unattended operation, and Internet connectivity are becoming mandatory. Moreover, on off-the-shelf solutions the user typically must be network technology-savvy to take advantage of sensing and actuation services. This paper presents a novel multi-channel architecture for sensor data gathering and actuation, featuring Plug-and-Play like functionality for node attachment and operation, IPv6 at the node level, and dedicated communication semantic protocols-the ZenSens system architecture. The architecture features the sensor/actuator nodes, a personal computer application (SenseLab), a mobile application (SenseLab mobile), and World Wide Web access (WebSensor), presenting the user with a complete sensing and actuation solution. As a result the user can operate the network without technological background, and near-zero configuration. All developed software and firmware are presented, and validated through a series of experiments on real hardware, namely using a test-bed with TelosB motes running ContikiOS.

[1]  Dhananjay Singh,et al.  IP-based ubiquitous sensor network for in-home healthcare monitoring , 2009, 2009 International Multimedia, Signal Processing and Communication Technologies.

[2]  Feng Xia,et al.  Wireless Sensor/Actuator Network Design for Mobile Control Applications , 2007, Sensors.

[3]  Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues,et al.  A survey on IP‐based wireless sensor network solutions , 2010, Int. J. Commun. Syst..

[4]  Carsten Bormann,et al.  6LoWPAN: The Wireless Embedded Internet , 2009 .

[5]  David E. Culler,et al.  Telos: enabling ultra-low power wireless research , 2005, IPSN 2005. Fourth International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, 2005..

[6]  Colin O'Flynn,et al.  Making sensor networks IPv6 ready , 2008, SenSys '08.

[7]  Adil Al-Yasiri,et al.  Data aggregation in wireless sensor networks using the SOAP protocol , 2007 .

[8]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  A survey on wireless multimedia sensor networks , 2007, Comput. Networks.

[9]  Mohamed Eltoweissy,et al.  Service-oriented sensor-actuator networks: Promises, challenges, and the road ahead , 2007, Comput. Commun..

[10]  R. Wattenhofer,et al.  Dozer: Ultra-Low Power Data Gathering in Sensor Networks , 2007, 2007 6th International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks.

[11]  John A. Stankovic,et al.  When Sensor and Actuator Networks Cover the World , 2008 .

[12]  Adam Dunkels,et al.  Demo abstract: MSPsim - an extensible simulator for MSP430-equipped sensor boards , 2007 .

[13]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  Sympathy for the sensor network debugger , 2005, SenSys '05.

[14]  Stefano Chessa,et al.  Wireless sensor networks: A survey on the state of the art and the 802.15.4 and ZigBee standards , 2007, Comput. Commun..

[15]  Lakhmi C. Jain,et al.  Network and information security: A computational intelligence approach: Special Issue of Journal of Network and Computer Applications , 2007, J. Netw. Comput. Appl..

[16]  Viktor K. Prasanna,et al.  Energy-latency tradeoffs for data gathering in wireless sensor networks , 2004, IEEE INFOCOM 2004.

[17]  David E. Culler,et al.  Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks , 2007, RFC.

[18]  Hyung Seok Kim,et al.  Dual Addressing Scheme in IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Networks , 2008 .

[19]  Fernando Boavida,et al.  IP in wireless sensor networks Issues and lessons learnt , 2008, 2008 3rd International Conference on Communication Systems Software and Middleware and Workshops (COMSWARE '08).

[20]  Adam Dunkels,et al.  Contiki - a lightweight and flexible operating system for tiny networked sensors , 2004, 29th Annual IEEE International Conference on Local Computer Networks.

[21]  Jennifer C. Hou,et al.  Wireless sensor networks , 2004, IEEE Wirel. Commun..

[22]  Guangjie Han,et al.  Connecting sensor networks with IP using a Configurable tiny TCP/IP protocol stack , 2007, 2007 6th International Conference on Information, Communications & Signal Processing.

[23]  Ricardo Simon Carbajo,et al.  Performance evaluation of the 6LoWPAN protocol on MICAz and TelosB motes , 2009, PM2HW2N '09.

[24]  Pedro José Marrón,et al.  COOJA/MSPSim: interoperability testing for wireless sensor networks , 2009, SimuTools.

[25]  Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues,et al.  User-centric data gathering multi-channel system for IPv6-enabled wireless sensor networks , 2011, Int. J. Sens. Networks.

[26]  Young-Joo Kim,et al.  Internet metadata framework for plug and play wireless sensor networks , 2009, 2009 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium.

[27]  Wei Tu,et al.  Distributed scheduling scheme for video streaming over multi-channel multi-radio multi-hop wireless networks , 2010, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[28]  David E. Culler,et al.  IP is dead, long live IP for wireless sensor networks , 2008, SenSys '08.

[29]  David Hutchison,et al.  WILEY SERIES IN COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKING & DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS , 2005 .

[30]  Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues,et al.  Application of Wireless Sensor Networks to Healthcare Promotion , 2008 .

[31]  Naixue Xiong,et al.  Context-Aware Middleware for Multimedia Services in Heterogeneous Networks , 2010, IEEE Intelligent Systems.

[32]  Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues,et al.  A survey on IP‐based wireless sensor network solutions , 2010, Int. J. Commun. Syst..

[33]  Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues,et al.  User-Centric Plug-And-Play Functionality for IPv6-Enabled Wireless Sensor Networks , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[34]  Praveen Budhwar,et al.  TinyOS: An Operating System for Wireless Sensor Networks , 2015 .

[35]  Stefan Valentin,et al.  Simulating wireless and mobile networks in OMNeT++ the MiXiM vision , 2008, SimuTools.

[36]  Adam Dunkels,et al.  Cross-Level Sensor Network Simulation with COOJA , 2006, Proceedings. 2006 31st IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks.