Provisioning within a WSAN cloud concept

Abstract

Traditionally, Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks or ( WSANs ) have been used as a standalone technology for a specific application purpose such as heating control. The current growth in embedded ICT infrastructure is leading to the deployment of a wide range of embedded systems in our environment, which motivates System of Systems [5] architectures and ultimately, with deployment of IP technologies into this space, the Internet of Things [10] paradigm. However, to simplify system operation and maintenance as well as to reduce costs, WSANs must become an infrastructure that is capable of providing services to multiple end users concurrently rather than requiring a new infrastructure for a new purpose. Here, we present the concept of a WSAN infrastructure as a WSAN Cloud , which provides services to multiple application and data collection systems following the cloud computing paradigm. Each instance of the WSAN cloud (i.e. a specific set of services configured by a particular end user/system) utilises the WSAN infrastructure as if it was a unique network provisioned for specific requirements. A realisation of the WSAN Cloud in the form of Network as a Service or NaaS requires a WSAN to support a service orientated software architecture allowing other systems to provision the WSAN infrastructure for their specific needs and allowing multiple systems to use the WSAN uniquely and concurrently. The WSAN-Service Orchestration Architecture " WSAN-SOrA " presented here, is a novel approach to service provisioning of embedded networked systems and enables WSANs to act as cloud ready infrastructures that facilitate on-demand provisioning for potentially multiple individual backend systems.