Towards Practical Integration of WSN in Cloud Dedicated to Smart Environments

In this paper, a method of interaction with Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN) through cloud, called Wireless Sensor Network over Cloud (WSN-C), is proposed. The physical sensors are not considered stand-alone sensors but they can be monitored, controlled and updated (programmed) via cloud services. The Cloud can communicate with the sensors through the WSN access point, or Sensor Gateway. Thus, every sensor inside the network can be accessed, monitored and controlled from the Cloud. In this way, the user not only has access to the raw data from physical sensors, but also can create virtual sensors and can program and interact directly with the physical sensor, remotely via cloud services. In addition the sensing layer represented by the physical sensors, an actuating layer (based on mechanical, electrical or hydraulic actuators) is included. The Cloud can communicate with the actuators through the Actuator Gateway. There are many applications in which such architecture is needed, especially for monitoring physical sensors, allowing multiple users access to the data, providing higher security, scalability and a way of processing data and send back commands to the local node.