A Modular Architecture for Reconfigurable Heterogeneous Networks with Embedded Devices

Abstract

Wireless SAN (WSAN) may include wired and/or wireless devices, PCs and control stations arranged in a heterogeneous distributed system. Instead of assuming that embedded device nodes (e.g. MicaZ or TelosB motes), gateways (e.g. PC running Linux) and control stations are disparate entities with their own programming and processing model, it should be viewed as a single heterogeneous distributed system, offering more uniformity, simplicity and flexibility. Enabling adaptivity in the higher layers of the network architecture such as the middleware and application layers, beside its consideration in the lower layers, becomes of high importance. In this paper we propose an approach to hide heterogeneity and offer a single common configuration and processing component for all nodes of that heterogeneous system. In particular, this proposal aims at providing an abstraction to facilitate development of adaptive Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (WSAN) applications. The main contribution of this paper is how to design a middleware architecture with a single uniform component to work with such heterogeneous underlying parts as a WSAN. This advances the current state-of-the-art in middleware for WSANs, by providing a single component that abstracts the underlying differences in both devices such as PCs and motes and in communications such as TCP and proprietary stacks to create a global processor.