Resource Re-use in Wireless Sensor Networks: Realizing a Synergetic Internet of Things

Abstract

The race for realizing a feasible framework for the Internet of Things (IoT) is indeed of increasing pace. Yet, none of the paradigms on the table consider building a system from scratch. Simply put, much has been invested (research and industry) in developing two key enabling technologies; namely Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and RFID systems. The abundance and self-sustained operation of these technologies potentiate a truly diverse bed for the plethora of applications the IoT is envisioned to encompass. We note the application-specific approach, currently dominant in WSN research, a true hindrance to its adaptability in a realizable IoT framework. In remedy, we present a novel paradigm in WSNs to efficiently utilize network resources, and extend it to a platform for multiple applications to cross-utilize resources over multiple WSNs. Our system is composed of three successive phases, namely: identifying the resources available in a given deployment of WSNs, and calibrating their usability based on a set of attributes. Then, a set of functional requirements is drawn from the applications to run on these WSNs. Finally we present a formulation for an optimization problem that maps these functional requirements to the available resources. The resulting paradigm potentiates the utilization of WSNs, not only for accommodating multiple applications, but for dynamically allocating resources when needed in a larger IoT framework. We present the formulation aided by a use case. Finally, this work concludes with a set of open research topics stemming from IoT realization efforts, and the integration efforts for its enabling technologies.