Real-time data report and task execution in wireless sensor and actuator networks using self-aware mobile actuators

Wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs) are composed of a large number of heterogeneous sensors and actuators that enable to make reactions toward the physical information sensed. Reactive WSANs are widely used in a range of applications, and some of them are used in delay-sensitive surveillance systems. Compared to sensors, actuators have more capabilities, which can move with self-awareness and then help to fulfill reaction tasks according to application requirements. By taking advantage of mobile actuators, we present a novel framework of real-time data report and task execution (RTRE) for automated WSANs in this paper. The real-time sensor-actuator data collection is achieved through coordination among sensors and mobile actuators. The real-time task execution is achieved through multi-actuator coordination with priority-based multi-event task assignment. The schemes provide energy efficiency with timely reactions. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the advantage of RTRE when compared with the other related work in terms of timeliness and energy efficiency.