A critical analysis of research potential, challenges and future directives in industrial wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have emerged as an important research theme with applications spanning a wide range of industries including automation, monitoring, process control, feedback systems and automotive. Wide scope of IWSNs applications ranging from small production units, large oil and gas industries to nuclear fission control, enables a fast-paced research in this field. Though IWSNs offer advantages of low cost, flexibility, scalability, self-healing, easy deployment and reformation, yet they pose certain limitations on available potential and introduce challenges on multiple fronts due to their susceptibility to highly complex and uncertain industrial environments. In this paper a detailed discussion on design objectives, challenges and solutions, for IWSNs, are presented. A careful evaluation of industrial systems, deadlines and possible hazards in industrial atmosphere are discussed. The paper also presents a thorough review of the existing standards and industrial protocols and gives a critical evaluation of potential of these standards and protocols along with a detailed discussion on available hardware platforms, specific industrial energy harvesting techniques and their capabilities. The paper lists main service providers for IWSNs solutions and gives insight of future trends and research gaps in the field of IWSNs

Analysis of current and potential sensor network technologies and their incorporation as embedded structural system

This document provides a brief overview of the actual wireless ad hoc sensor networks technologies and standards available, especially in view of their possible implementation for shipping container protection and monitoring within the framework of the STEC Action aiming at analyzing possible technical solutions to improve the security of the millions of containers moving in and out of Europe. Examples of applications and research projects are reported from the literature to give insights on the possibility of implementation of wireless sensor networks in real world scenarios.JRC.G.5-European laboratory for structural assessmen

A survey on subjecting electronic product code and non-ID objects to IP identification

Over the last decade, both research on the Internet of Things (IoT) and real-world IoT applications have grown exponentially. The IoT provides us with smarter cities, intelligent homes, and generally more comfortable lives. However, the introduction of these devices has led to several new challenges that must be addressed. One of the critical challenges facing interacting with IoT devices is to address billions of devices (things) around the world, including computers, tablets, smartphones, wearable devices, sensors, and embedded computers, and so on. This article provides a survey on subjecting Electronic Product Code and non-ID objects to IP identification for IoT devices, including their advantages and disadvantages thereof. Different metrics are here proposed and used for evaluating these methods. In particular, the main methods are evaluated in terms of their: (i) computational overhead, (ii) scalability, (iii) adaptability, (iv) implementation cost, and (v) whether applicable to already ID-based objects and presented in tabular format. Finally, the article proves that this field of research will still be ongoing, but any new technique must favorably offer the mentioned five evaluative parameters.Comment: 112 references, 8 figures, 6 tables, Journal of Engineering Reports, Wiley, 2020 (Open Access

ISO/EPC Addressing Methods to Support Supply Chain in the Internet of Things

RFID systems are among the major infrastructures of the Internet of Things, which follow ISO and EPC standards. In addition, ISO standard constitutes the main layers of supply chain, and many RFID systems benefit from ISO standard for different purposes. In this paper, we tried to introduce addressing systems based on ISO standards, through which the range of things connected to the Internet of Things will grow. Our proposed methods are addressing methods which can be applied to both ISO and EPC standards. The proposed methods are simple, hierarchical, and low cost implementation. In addition, the presented methods enhance interoperability among RFIDs, and also enjoys a high scalability, since it well covers all of EPC schemes and ISO supply chain standards. Further, by benefiting from a new algorithm for long EPCs known as selection algorithm, they can significantly facilitate and accelerate the operation of address mapping.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1807.0217

Sensor function virtualization to support distributed intelligence in the internet of things

It is estimated that-by 2020-billion devices will be connected to the Internet. This number not only includes TVs, PCs, tablets and smartphones, but also billions of embedded sensors that will make up the "Internet of Things" and enable a whole new range of intelligent services in domains such as manufacturing, health, smart homes, logistics, etc. To some extent, intelligence such as data processing or access control can be placed on the devices themselves. Alternatively, functionalities can be outsourced to the cloud. In reality, there is no single solution that fits all needs. Cooperation between devices, intermediate infrastructures (local networks, access networks, global networks) and/or cloud systems is needed in order to optimally support IoT communication and IoT applications. Through distributed intelligence the right communication and processing functionality will be available at the right place. The first part of this paper motivates the need for such distributed intelligence based on shortcomings in typical IoT systems. The second part focuses on the concept of sensor function virtualization, a potential enabler for distributed intelligence, and presents solutions on how to realize it

Multiradio sensing systems for home area networking and building management

Many WSN systems use proprietary systems so interoperability between different devices and systems can be at best difficult with various protocols (standards based and non-standards based) used (ZigBee, EnOcean, MODBUS, KNEX, DALI, Powerline, etc.). This work describes the development of a novel low power consumption multiradio system incorporating 32-bit ARM-Cortex microcontroller and multiple radio interfaces - ZigBee/6LoWPAN/Bluetooth LE (Low Energy)/868MHz platform. The multiradio sensing system lends itself to interoperability and standardization between the different technologies which typically make up a heterogeneous network of sensors for both standards based and non-standards based systems. The configurability of the system enables energy savings, and increases the range between single points enabling the implementation of adaptive networking architectures of different configurations. The system described provides a future-proof wireless platform for Home Automation Networks with regards to the network heterogeneity in terms of hardware and protocols defined as being critical for use in the built environment. This system is the first to provide the capability to communicate in the 2.4GHz band as well as the 868MHz band as well as the feature of multiboot capability

From serendipity to sustainable Green IoT: technical, industrial and political perspective

Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) has become one of the largest electronics market for hardware production due to its fast evolving application space. However, one of the key challenges for IoT hardware is the energy efficiency as most of IoT devices/objects are expected to run on batteries for months/years without a battery replacement or on harvested energy sources. Widespread use of IoT has also led to a largescale rise in the carbon footprint. In this regard, academia, industry and policy-makers are constantly working towards new energy-efficient hardware and software solutions paving the way for an emerging area referred to as green-IoT. With the direct integration and the evolution of smart communication between physical world and computer-based systems, IoT devices are also expected to reduce the total amount of energy consumption for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. However, in order to increase its chance of success and to help at reducing the overall energy consumption and carbon emissions a comprehensive investigation into how to achieve green-IoT is required. In this context, this paper surveys the green perspective of the IoT paradigm and aims to contribute at establishing a global approach for green-IoT environments. A comprehensive approach is presented that focuses not only on the specific solutions but also on the interaction among them, and highlights the precautions/decisions the policy makers need to take. On one side, the ongoing European projects and standardization efforts as well as industry and academia based solutions are presented and on the other side, the challenges, open issues, lessons learned and the role of policymakers towards green-IoT are discussed. The survey shows that due to many existing open issues (e.g., technical considerations, lack of standardization, security and privacy, governance and legislation, etc.) that still need to be addressed, a realistic implementation of a sustainable green-IoT environment that could be universally accepted and deployed, is still missing

Vibration energy harvesters for wireless sensor networks for aircraft health monitoring

Traditional power supply for wireless sensor nodes is batteries. However, the application of batteries in WSN has been limited due to their large size, low capacity, limited working life, and replacement cost. With rapid advancements in microelectronics, power consumption of WSN is getting lower and hence the energy harvested from ambient may be sufficient to power the tiny sensor nodes and eliminate batteries completely. As vibration is the widespread ambient source that exists in abundance on an aircraft, a WSN node system used for aircraft health monitoring powered by a piezoelectric energy harvester was designed and manufactured. Furthermore, simulations were performed to validate the design and evaluate the performance. In addition, the Z-Stack protocol was migrated to run on the system and initial experiments were carried out to analyse the current consumption of the system. A new approach for power management was reported, the execution of the operations were determined by the amount of the energy stored on the capacitor. A novel power saving interface was also developed to minimise the power consumption during the voltage measurement