CISNETS Cooperative Intelligent Wireless Sensor Networks

The proliferation of sensor networks in our environment poses innovative research challenges to enable their efficient use according to the type of application. In this scenario, the use of a sensor, or mote, as a smart object, possibly mobile, which interacts with its environment and is able to learn and adopt different configurations, arises. For example, information collected by this type of objects in a city allows the capture of information from the environment (meteorological data, light intensity, presence of people or objects, traffic, pollution levels, image or video) to optimise management of resources, under the concept of Smart Cities. In this way, city lighting could be turned off if no presence was detected or an alarm could be triggered if a threshold in the pollution was exceeded.

The CISNETS project concerns itself with this type of scenarios, and introduces a complete set of protocols and mechanisms for wireless sensor networks (WSN). These mechanisms address three issues arising when providing more extensible architectures to improve and adapt sensor networks to changing and strict requirements. Firstly, the use of inter-network optimisation mechanisms allows the use of highly correlated information among different sensor applications to extend and adapt their performance depending on special events. Secondly, to have a set of access-to-the-medium techniques, all of them being efficient and adaptable to different use cases (energy efficiency, adequate throughput or transmitted data encryption, changing propagation conditions, changes in the topology due to the mobility of objects, etc.). Lastly, the use of advanced protocols to build a mesh overlay for WSNs allows the easy and low-cost deployment of these technologies in densely populated urban scenarios.

The structure proposed in CISNETS is based on a modular and flexible cross-layer design, in order to facilitate both its adaptation to specific settings (by selecting a specific subset of features within the original design), and the implementation of self-adaptation and self-optimisation to the environment, as well as of cooperation with other nearby objects. CISNETS suggests the integration of techniques based on software and cognitive radio and multiple packet transmission / reception, so that the design of new access protocols for object networks increases efficiency in the use of transmission resources, while ensuring a sufficient performance level depending on the supported application.

Finally, CISNETS also addresses the problem of interconnecting these objects as well as connecting them to the Internet, and of managing the generated information. The use of non-centralised protocols that work with overlay techniques is suggested, where each node, according to the policies of its network, can report its characteristics, in order to be accessible in an efficient manner.

Proyecto con referencia TEC2012-32354 financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad