IEEE 1451: Communication among smart sensors using MQTT protocol

Smart sensors, transducers, and sensor networks are undergoing, in recent years, a profound transformation thanks to the spread of new communication protocols based on the Producer-Consumer paradigm rather than on the Request-Response paradigm of Server-Client architectures. In this context, the substandard IEEE 1451.1.6 has been introduced in the IEEE 1451 standard, which aims to standardize the Producer-Consumer based communication protocols, particularly MQTT. The role of this standard is fundamental for the realization of sensor networks with nodes produced by different manufacturers and integrated in a fully automatic way according to the paradigm “Plug and Play”. This work aims to verify the progress of this sub-standard by testing its reliability with the development and testing of a prototype wireless sensor network based on MQTT with low-cost hardware. The prototype will consist of a Network Capable Application Processor (NCAP) node and a Transducer Interface Module (TIM) node, while the role of MQTT Broker and Wi-Fi Access Point for the physical layer of the Wireless Sensor Network will be covered by the NCAP itself.