A Mobile Gateway for Remote Interaction With Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) almost invariably support a centralized network management model. Though the data gathering function is conducted remotely, such data are usually routed via data sinks to central servers for processing, storage, visualization, and interpretation. However, the issue of supporting remote access to WSNs and individual sensor nodes whilst in their physical environment has not been viewed as a priority. It is envisaged that this situation will change as WSNs proliferate in a range of domains, and the potential for supporting innovative revenue-generating services manifest themselves. As a step towards realizing such access, a mobile gateway has been designed and implemented. This gateway supports Zigbee as this is the predominant protocol supported by WSNs. Furthermore, it also supports Bluetooth, thereby facilitating interaction with conventional mobile devices. The gateway is programmable according to the needs of arbitrary services and applications.