The Design and Implementation of a Web Service Framework for Individual Nodes in Sinkless Wireless Sensor Networks

It is foreseen that several wireless sensor networks (WSNs) will be deployed in the very near future to provide various sensing services to end user applications. A wide range of novel end-user applications will emerge. In some application scenarios, the sinkless model is appropriate. In this model, the applications interact directly with the sensor nodes, without going through a gateway. However, the current sensor nodes use proprietary protocols and data access frameworks. This propriety will hinder the speed of evolution of applications. There is a need for a framework that is well known to application developers and is based on standard protocols. This paper presents an embedded Web services platform residing on the sensor nodes, allowing direct interaction between applications and individual sensor nodes. The lessons learned indicate that Web service platform on sensor node is feasible, despite the nodes' limited resources and the complexity of the framework.