An OSGi middleware to enable the Sensor as a Service paradigm

Abstract

The Internet of Things vision has recently stimulated many research efforts in different communities. The collection of diverse information produced by the proliferation of inter-connected sensing entities is one of the biggest challenge that should be adequately addressed. The huge amounts of raw data produced by IoT devices need to be structured, stored, analysed, correlated and mined in a reliable and scalable way. The size of the produced data, and the high rate at which data are being produced, suggest that we need new solutions that combine tools for data management and services capable of promptly structuring, aggregating and mining data even just at the time they are produced. In this paper we propose a middleware, to be deployed on top of physical sensors and sensor networks, capable of abstracting sensor devices from their proprietary interfaces, and offering them to third party applications in an as-a-Service fashion for prompt and universal use. The middleware also offers tool to elaborate real-time measurements produced by sensors. A prototype of the middleware has been implemented. In the paper a real use case scenario is also discussed.