Service-oriented sensor–actuator networks: Promises, challenges, and the road ahead

In recent years, significant advances have been achieved in almost all research areas related to Sensor-Actuator Networks (SANETs) including hardware, architectures, operating systems, routing protocols, query optimization, reliability and security. These advances have enabled a wide spectrum of applications. Yet, numerous aspects are still to explore and complex challenges remain. In this paper, we first discuss some of the limitations of current SANET architectures. To address these limitations, we introduce service-oriented SANETs (SOSANETs) as a novel approach for building a new generation of open, efficient, interoperable, scalable, application-aware SANETs. We investigate the benefits of SOSANETs in the context of TinySOA, a prototype SOSANET that we developed on top of TinyOS. We also elucidate the challenges that must be overcome before the much touted “pervasive sensor computing paradigm” becomes a reality. We conclude with a discussion of some promising research directions that are crucial in shaping tomorrow’s SANETs.