Context Aware Computing for The Internet of Things: A Survey

As we are moving towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of sensors deployed around the world is growing at a rapid pace. Market research has shown a significant growth of sensor deployments over the past decade and has predicted a significant increment of the growth rate in the future. These sensors continuously generate enormous amounts of data. However, in order to add value to raw sensor data we need to understand it. Collection, modelling, reasoning, and distribution of context in relation to sensor data plays critical role in this challenge. Context-aware computing has proven to be successful in understanding sensor data. In this paper, we survey context awareness from an IoT perspective. We present the necessary background by introducing the IoT paradigm and context-aware fundamentals at the beginning. Then we provide an in-depth analysis of context life cycle. We evaluate a subset of projects (50) which represent the majority of research and commercial solutions proposed in the field of context-aware computing conducted over the last decade (2001-2011) based on our own taxonomy. Finally, based on our evaluation, we highlight the lessons to be learnt from the past and some possible directions for future research. The survey addresses a broad range of techniques, methods, models, functionalities, systems, applications, and middleware solutions related to context awareness and IoT. Our goal is not only to analyse, compare and consolidate past research work but also to appreciate their findings and discuss their applicability towards the IoT.Comment: IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Journal, 201

Data Aggregation through Web Service Composition in Smart Camera Networks

Distributed Smart Camera (DSC) networks are power constrained real-time distributed embedded systems that perform computer vision using multiple cameras. Providing data aggregation techniques that is criti-cal for running complex image processing algorithms on DSCs is a challenging task due to complexity of video and image data. Providing highly desirable SQL APIs for sophisticated query processing in DSC networks is also challenging for similar reasons. Research on DSCs to date have not addressed the above two problems. In this thesis, we develop a novel SOA based middleware framework on a DSC network that uses Distributed OSGi to expose DSC network services as web services. We also develop a novel web service composition scheme that aid in data aggregation and a SQL query interface for DSC net-works that allow sophisticated query processing. We validate our service orchestration concept for data aggregation by providing query primitive for face detection in smart camera network

MOSDEN: A Scalable Mobile Collaborative Platform for Opportunistic Sensing Applications

Mobile smartphones along with embedded sensors have become an efficient enabler for various mobile applications including opportunistic sensing. The hi-tech advances in smartphones are opening up a world of possibilities. This paper proposes a mobile collaborative platform called MOSDEN that enables and supports opportunistic sensing at run time. MOSDEN captures and shares sensor data across multiple apps, smartphones and users. MOSDEN supports the emerging trend of separating sensors from application-specific processing, storing and sharing. MOSDEN promotes reuse and re-purposing of sensor data hence reducing the efforts in developing novel opportunistic sensing applications. MOSDEN has been implemented on Android-based smartphones and tablets. Experimental evaluations validate the scalability and energy efficiency of MOSDEN and its suitability towards real world applications. The results of evaluation and lessons learned are presented and discussed in this paper.Comment: Accepted to be published in Transactions on Collaborative Computing, 2014. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1310.405

A fault fuzzy-ontology for large scale fault-tolerant wireless sensor networks

International audienceFault tolerance is a key research area for many of applications such as those based on sensor network technologies. In a large scale wireless sensor network (WSN), it becomes important to find new methods for fault-tolerance that can meet new application requirements like Internet of things, urbane intelligence and observation systems. The challenge is beyond the limit of a single wireless sensor network and concerns multiple widely interconnected sub networks. The domain of fault grows considerably because of this new configuration. In this context, the paper proposes a fault fuzzy-ontology (FFO) for large scale WSNs to be used within a Web service architecture for diagnosis and testing

A service-oriented middleware for composing context aware mobile services

Recent advances in wireless networks and mobile devices have brought about new scenes for the provision of services to end-users. Besides traditional services, new ones may be provided that transparently adjust and adapt to the user context. The user would have more choice and flexibility if, besides using the services, he could also compose his own services in an ad-hoc way. This paper presents iCas, an architecture to create context-aware services on the fly and discusses its main components. Also an application scenario is briefly described

Wireless and Physical Security via Embedded Sensor Networks

Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems (WIDS) monitor 802.11 wireless frames (Layer-2) in an attempt to detect misuse. What distinguishes a WIDS from a traditional Network IDS is the ability to utilize the broadcast nature of the medium to reconstruct the physical location of the offending party, as opposed to its possibly spoofed (MAC addresses) identity in cyber space. Traditional Wireless Network Security Systems are still heavily anchored in the digital plane of "cyber space" and hence cannot be used reliably or effectively to derive the physical identity of an intruder in order to prevent further malicious wireless broadcasts, for example by escorting an intruder off the premises based on physical evidence. In this paper, we argue that Embedded Sensor Networks could be used effectively to bridge the gap between digital and physical security planes, and thus could be leveraged to provide reciprocal benefit to surveillance and security tasks on both planes. Toward that end, we present our recent experience integrating wireless networking security services into the SNBENCH (Sensor Network workBench). The SNBENCH provides an extensible framework that enables the rapid development and automated deployment of Sensor Network applications on a shared, embedded sensing and actuation infrastructure. The SNBENCH's extensible architecture allows an engineer to quickly integrate new sensing and response capabilities into the SNBENCH framework, while high-level languages and compilers allow novice SN programmers to compose SN service logic, unaware of the lower-level implementation details of tools on which their services rely. In this paper we convey the simplicity of the service composition through concrete examples that illustrate the power and potential of Wireless Security Services that span both the physical and digital plane.National Science Foundation (CISE/CSR 0720604, ENG/EFRI 0735974, CIES/CNS 0520166, CNS/ITR 0205294, CISE/ERA RI 0202067

Service Composition for IP Smart Object using Realtime Web Protocols: Concept and Research Challenges

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a world-wide network of interconnected physical things using standardized communication protocols. Recent development of Internet Protocol (IP) stacks for resource-constrained devices unveils a possibility for the future IoT based on the stable and scalable IP technology much like today's Internet of computers. One important question remains: how can data and events (denoted as services) introduced by a variety of IP networked things be exchanged and aggregated e ciently in various application domains. Because the true value of IoT lies in the interaction of several services from physical things, answers to this question are essential to support a rapid creation of new IoT smart and ubiquitous applications. The problem is known as service composition. This article explains the practicability of the future full-IP IoT with realtime Web protocols to formally state the problem of service composition for IP smart objects, provides literature review, and discusses its research challenges