Integration oflowcomputational powernodes inaGRIDmeasurement architecture

Theincreasing diffusion ofenvironmental monitoring systems de- mandsformoreflexibility inthemanagement ofthewholesystem andina lower cost forthearrangement ofeachmeasuring unit. Boththese require- ments canbemetbyarranging thewholesystem asaGRIDarchitecture and employing units that arebasedonlow-cost micro-controllers orpalmPCs. However, suchkindofunits doesnotexhibit enough processing capabilities to metthefull GRIDrequirements. Forthis reason, theauthors propose aproxy- basedapproach that allows low-cost measuring units tobeintegrated into a GRIDarchitecture, byintroducing theconcept ofvirtual measurement GRID node. Suchanodeismainly composed ofameasurement front-end that com- municates withaproxyGRIDnode, whichexhibits thefull GRIDservices. An example ofvirtual measurement nodeisproposed that isconceived forpollu- tion monitoring andaprototype ofmeasurement nodeisdescribed that senses temperature andconcentration ofcarbone monoxide.