Sensors

2018

Jump to: 2017

26 pages, 3172 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Data Collection Based on Opportunistic Node Connections in Wireless Sensor Networks

by Guisong Yang, Zhiwei Peng and Xingyu He

Sensors 2018, 18(11), 3697; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113697 - 30 Oct 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5383

Abstract

The working–sleeping cycle strategy used for sensor nodes with limited power supply in wireless sensor networks can effectively save their energy, but also causes opportunistic node connections due to the intermittent communication mode, which can affect the reliability of data transmission. To address [...] Read more.

The working–sleeping cycle strategy used for sensor nodes with limited power supply in wireless sensor networks can effectively save their energy, but also causes opportunistic node connections due to the intermittent communication mode, which can affect the reliability of data transmission. To address this problem, a data collection scheme based on opportunistic node connections is proposed to achieve efficient data collection in a network with a mobile sink. In this scheme, the mobile sink first broadcasts a tag message to start a data collection period, and all nodes that receive this message will use the probe message to forward their own source information to the mobile sink. On receiving these probe messages, the mobile sink then constructs an opportunistic connection random graph by analyzing the source information included in them, and calculates the optimal path from itself to each node in this random graph, therefore a spanning tree could be generated with the mobile sink play as the root node, finally, it broadcasts this spanning tree so that each node could obtain an optimal path from itself to the mobile sink to forward the sensing data. In addition, a routing protocol that adapts to different nodes operating statuses is proposed to improve the reliability of data transmission. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme works better concerning the packet delivery rate, energy consumption and network lifetime. Full article

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33 pages, 2723 KiB

Open AccessReview

Overlay Virtualized Wireless Sensor Networks for Application in Industrial Internet of Things: A Review

by Malvin Nkomo, Gerhard P. Hancke, Adnan M. Abu-Mahfouz, Saurabh Sinha and Adeiza. J. Onumanyi

Sensors 2018, 18(10), 3215; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18103215 - 23 Sep 2018

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 9103

Abstract

In recent times, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are broadly applied in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of existing and prospective manufacturing industries. In particular, an area of interest that concerns the use of WSNs [...] Read more.

In recent times, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are broadly applied in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of existing and prospective manufacturing industries. In particular, an area of interest that concerns the use of WSNs in IIoT is the concept of sensor network virtualization and overlay networks. Both network virtualization and overlay networks are considered contemporary because they provide the capacity to create services and applications at the edge of existing virtual networks without changing the underlying infrastructure. This capability makes both network virtualization and overlay network services highly beneficial, particularly for the dynamic needs of IIoT based applications such as in smart industry applications, smart city, and smart home applications. Consequently, the study of both WSN virtualization and overlay networks has become highly patronized in the literature, leading to the growth and maturity of the research area. In line with this growth, this paper provides a review of the development made thus far concerning virtualized sensor networks, with emphasis on the application of overlay networks in IIoT. Principally, the process of virtualization in WSN is discussed along with its importance in IIoT applications. Different challenges in WSN are also presented along with possible solutions given by the use of virtualized WSNs. Further details are also presented concerning the use of overlay networks as the next step to supporting virtualization in shared sensor networks. Our discussion closes with an exposition of the existing challenges in the use of virtualized WSN for IIoT applications. In general, because overlay networks will be contributory to the future development and advancement of smart industrial and smart city applications, this review may be considered by researchers as a reference point for those particularly interested in the study of this growing field. Full article

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21 pages, 5485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Accurate Device-Free Tracking Using Inexpensive RFIDs

by Liyao Li, Chongzheng Guo, Yang Liu, Lichao Zhang, Xiaofei Qi, Yuhui Ren, Baoying Liu and Feng Chen

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2816; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18092816 - 27 Aug 2018

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3804

Abstract

Without requiring targets to carry any device, device-free-based tracking is playing an important role in many emerging applications such as smart homes, fitness tracking, intruder detection, etc. While promising, current device-free tracking systems based on inexpensive commercial devices perform well in the training [...] Read more.

Without requiring targets to carry any device, device-free-based tracking is playing an important role in many emerging applications such as smart homes, fitness tracking, intruder detection, etc. While promising, current device-free tracking systems based on inexpensive commercial devices perform well in the training environment, but poorly in other environments because of different multipath reflections. This paper introduces RDTrack, a system that leverages changes in Doppler shifts, which are not sensitive to multipath, to accurately track the target. Moreover, RDTrack identifies particular patterns for fine-grained motions such as turning, walking straightly, etc., which can achieve accurate tracking. For the purpose of achieving a fine-grained device-free tracking system, this paper builds a trajectory estimating model using HMM (Hidden Markov Model) to improve the matching accuracy and reduce the time complexity. We address several challenges including estimating the tag influenced time period, identifying moving path and reducing false positives due to multipath. We implement RDTrack with inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) hardware and extensively evaluate RDTrack in a lobby, staircase and library. Our results show that RDTrack is effective in tracking the moving target, with a low tracking error of 32 cm. This accuracy is robust for different environments, highlighting RDTrack’s ability to enable future essential device-free moving-based interaction with RFID devices. Full article

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19 pages, 1157 KiB

Open AccessArticle

AOA-Based Three-Dimensional Multi-Target Localization in Industrial WSNs for LOS Conditions

by Ruonan Zhang, Jiawei Liu, Xiaojiang Du, Bin Li and Mohsen Guizani

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2727; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082727 - 19 Aug 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6011

Abstract

High-precision and fast relative positioning of a large number of mobile sensor nodes (MSNs) is crucial for smart industrial wireless sensor networks (SIWSNs). However, positioning multiple targets simultaneously in three-dimensional (3D) space has been less explored. In this paper, we propose a new [...] Read more.

High-precision and fast relative positioning of a large number of mobile sensor nodes (MSNs) is crucial for smart industrial wireless sensor networks (SIWSNs). However, positioning multiple targets simultaneously in three-dimensional (3D) space has been less explored. In this paper, we propose a new approach, called Angle-of-Arrival (AOA) based Three-dimensional Multi-target Localization (ATML). The approach utilizes two anchor nodes (ANs) with antenna arrays to receive the spread spectrum signals broadcast by MSNs. We design a multi-target single-input-multiple-output (MT-SIMO) signal transmission scheme and a simple iterative maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) to estimate the 2D AOAs of multiple MSNs simultaneously. We further adopt the skew line theorem of 3D geometry to mitigate the AOA estimation errors in determining locations. We have conducted extensive simulations and also developed a testbed of the proposed ATML. The numerical and field experiment results have verified that the proposed ATML can locate multiple MSNs simultaneously with high accuracy and efficiency by exploiting the spread spectrum gain and antenna array gain. The ATML scheme does not require extra hardware or synchronization among nodes, and has good capability in mitigating interference and multipath effect in complicated industrial environments. Full article

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21 pages, 6046 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimal Deployment of FiWi Networks Using Heuristic Method for Integration Microgrids with Smart Metering

by Esteban Inga, Miguel Campaña, Roberto Hincapié and Oswaldo Moscoso-Zea

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2724; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082724 - 19 Aug 2018

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5420

Abstract

The unpredictable increase in electrical demand affects the quality of the energy throughout the network. A solution to the problem is the increase of distributed generation units, which burn fossil fuels. While this is an immediate solution to the problem, the ecosystem is [...] Read more.

The unpredictable increase in electrical demand affects the quality of the energy throughout the network. A solution to the problem is the increase of distributed generation units, which burn fossil fuels. While this is an immediate solution to the problem, the ecosystem is affected by the emission of CO₂. A promising solution is the integration of Distributed Renewable Energy Sources (DRES) with the conventional electrical system, thus introducing the concept of Smart Microgrids (SMG). These SMGs require a safe, reliable and technically planned two-way communication system. This paper presents a heuristic based on planning capable of providing a bidirectional communication that is near optimal. The model follows the structure of a hybrid Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) network with the purpose of obtaining information of electrical parameters that help us to manage the use of energy by integrating conventional electrical system with SMG. The optimization model is based on clustering techniques, through the construction of balanced conglomerates. The method is used for the development of the clusters along with the Nearest-Neighbor Spanning Tree algorithm (N-NST). Additionally, the Optimal Delay Balancing (ODB) model will be used to minimize the end to end delay of each grouping. In addition, the heuristic observes real design parameters such as: capacity and coverage. Using the Dijkstra algorithm, the routes are built following the shortest path. Therefore, this paper presents a heuristic able to plan the deployment of Smart Meters (SMs) through a tree-like hierarchical topology for the integration of SMG at the lowest cost. Full article

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13 pages, 3646 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Opportunistic and Location-Based Collaboration Architecture among Mobile Assets and Fixed Manufacturing Processes

by Dae Han Wi, Hyo Jun Kwon, Jung Kwang Park, Soon Ju Kang and Jae Duck Lee

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2703; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082703 - 17 Aug 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3936

Abstract

Research into integrating the concept of the internet of things (IoT) into smart factories has accelerated, leading to the emergence of various smart factory solutions. Most ideas, however, focus on the automation and integration of processes in factory, rather than organic cooperation among [...] Read more.

Research into integrating the concept of the internet of things (IoT) into smart factories has accelerated, leading to the emergence of various smart factory solutions. Most ideas, however, focus on the automation and integration of processes in factory, rather than organic cooperation among mobile assets (e.g., the workers and manufactured products) and fixed manufacturing equipment (e.g., press molds, computer numerical controls, painting). Additionally, it is difficult to apply smart factory and IoT designs to analog factories, because such a factory would require the integration of mobile assets and smart manufacturing processes. Thus, existing analog factories remain intact and smart factories are newly constructed. To overcome this disparity and to make analog factories compatible with smart technologies and IoT, we propose the opportunistic and location-based collaboration architecture (OLCA) platform, which allows for smart devices to be attached to workers, products, and facilities to enable the collaboration of location and event information in devices. Using this system, we can monitor workers’ positions and production processes in real-time to help prevent dangerous situations and better understand product movement. We evaluate the proposed OLCA platform’s performance while using a simple smart factory scenario, thus confirming its suitability. Full article

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18 pages, 1288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Framework of Joint Energy Provisioning and Manufacturing Scheduling in Smart Industrial Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks

by Yixiong Feng, Yong Wang, Hao Zheng, Shanghua Mi and Jianrong Tan

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2591; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082591 - 7 Aug 2018

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3663

Abstract

Energy provisioning is always a crucial problem restricting the further development and application of smart industrial wireless sensor networks in smart factories. In this paper, we present that it is necessary to develop smart industrial wireless rechargeable sensor networks (SIWRSNs) in a smart [...] Read more.

Energy provisioning is always a crucial problem restricting the further development and application of smart industrial wireless sensor networks in smart factories. In this paper, we present that it is necessary to develop smart industrial wireless rechargeable sensor networks (SIWRSNs) in a smart factory environment. Based on the complexity and time-effectiveness of factory operations, we establish a joint optimization framework named J-EPMS to effectively coordinate the charging strategies of wireless sensors and the scheduling plans of machines running. Then, we propose a novel double chains quantum genetic algorithm with Taboo search (DCQGA-TS) for J-EPMS to obtain a suboptimal solution. The simulation results demonstrate that the DCQGA-TS algorithm can maximally ensure the continuous manufacturing and markedly shorten the total completion time of all production tasks. Full article

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24 pages, 393 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Survey of Anomaly Detection in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks with Critical Water System Infrastructure as a Case Study

by Daniel Ramotsoela, Adnan Abu-Mahfouz and Gerhard Hancke

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2491; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082491 - 1 Aug 2018

Cited by 121 | Viewed by 9263

Abstract

The increased use of Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) in a variety of different applications, including those that involve critical infrastructure, has meant that adequately protecting these systems has become a necessity. These cyber-physical systems improve the monitoring and control features of these [...] Read more.

The increased use of Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) in a variety of different applications, including those that involve critical infrastructure, has meant that adequately protecting these systems has become a necessity. These cyber-physical systems improve the monitoring and control features of these systems but also introduce several security challenges. Intrusion detection is a convenient second line of defence in case of the failure of normal network security protocols. Anomaly detection is a branch of intrusion detection that is resource friendly and provides broader detection generality making it ideal for IWSN applications. These schemes can be used to detect abnormal changes in the environment where IWSNs are deployed. This paper presents a literature survey of the work done in the field in recent years focusing primarily on machine learning techniques. Major research gaps regarding the practical feasibility of these schemes are also identified from surveyed work and critical water infrastructure is discussed as a use case. Full article

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11 pages, 2276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

UAV Based Relay for Wireless Sensor Networks in 5G Systems

by Shu Fu, Lian Zhao, Zhou Su and Xin Jian

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2413; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082413 - 25 Jul 2018

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 5352

Abstract

Relay is one of the most significant issues in smart industrial wireless sensor networks (WSN) due to the low transmitting power of sensors. By relay, the signals of sensors can be concentrated at the relay and further transmitted to the base station for [...] Read more.

Relay is one of the most significant issues in smart industrial wireless sensor networks (WSN) due to the low transmitting power of sensors. By relay, the signals of sensors can be concentrated at the relay and further transmitted to the base station for decreasing energy consumption in the system. In the past decades, the relay in WSN is generally one super sensor with large transmitting power. However, the placement of the super sensor is static, which leads to the instability of performance in WSN under the time-varying wireless environment. Fortunately, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can provide an effective leverage to improve the environment-adaptation in WSN compared to the static relay in WSN. In this paper, we employ UAV as the relay in WSN, which can move in three-dimensional space to possess a better position to minimize the system power consumption. We use a simple case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of UAV in WSN. Extended simulations are also given to verify the preferable performance of the UAV based relay in WSN. Full article

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29 pages, 10049 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Differentiated Data Aggregation Routing Scheme for Energy Conserving and Delay Sensitive Wireless Sensor Networks

by Xujing Li, Wei Liu, Mande Xie, Anfeng Liu, Ming Zhao, Neal N. Xiong, Miao Zhao and Wan Dai

Sensors 2018, 18(7), 2349; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072349 - 19 Jul 2018

Cited by 44 | Viewed by 4789

Abstract

Data aggregation is a widely adopted method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In the data aggregation networks, some parameters directly determine the delay of aggregation. In industrial applications, the data generated by [...] Read more.

Data aggregation is a widely adopted method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In the data aggregation networks, some parameters directly determine the delay of aggregation. In industrial applications, the data generated by different sensors have different requirements for delay or other QoS performance. In the previous study, a common strategy is that all kinds of data is aggregated into one frame when the condition is satisfied with a QoS requirement, which causes excessive energy consumption and severely impairs the lifetime of network. A Differentiated Data Aggregation Routing (DDAR) scheme is proposed to reduce energy consumption and guarantee that the delay could be controlled within the corresponding QoS requirement constraint. The primary contributions of the DDAR scheme are the following: (a) The DDAR scheme makes data with different QoS requirement route to the sink along the different paths. The parameters of the aggregators in each path, such as aggregation deadline (

T_{t}

) and the aggregation threshold (

N_{t}

), are configured according to the QoS requirements. Accordingly, energy consumption can be reduced without degrading the performance of data transmission. (b) Based on DDAR scheme, an improved DDAR scheme is proposed to further improve performance through fully utilize the residual energy in the nodes which are far from the sink. The frequency of aggregation of these nodes increases by reducing the value of

T_{t}

and

N_{t}

so as to further improve the energy efficiency and reduce delay. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with the previous scheme, this scheme reduces the delay by 25.01%, improves the lifetime by 55.45%, and increases energy efficiency by 83.99%. The improved DDAR scheme improves the energy efficiency by 33.97% and service guarantee rate by 10.11%. Full article

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15 pages, 1964 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Statistical Approach to Detect Jamming Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks

by Opeyemi Osanaiye, Attahiru S. Alfa and Gerhard P. Hancke

Sensors 2018, 18(6), 1691; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061691 - 24 May 2018

Cited by 109 | Viewed by 9133

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), in recent times, have become one of the most promising network solutions with a wide variety of applications in the areas of agriculture, environment, healthcare and the military. Notwithstanding these promising applications, sensor nodes in WSNs are vulnerable to [...] Read more.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), in recent times, have become one of the most promising network solutions with a wide variety of applications in the areas of agriculture, environment, healthcare and the military. Notwithstanding these promising applications, sensor nodes in WSNs are vulnerable to different security attacks due to their deployment in hostile and unattended areas and their resource constraints. One of such attacks is the DoS jamming attack that interferes and disrupts the normal functions of sensor nodes in a WSN by emitting radio frequency signals to jam legitimate signals to cause a denial of service. In this work we propose a step-wise approach using a statistical process control technique to detect these attacks. We deploy an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) to detect anomalous changes in the intensity of a jamming attack event by using the packet inter-arrival feature of the received packets from the sensor nodes. Results obtained from a trace-driven simulation show that the proposed solution can efficiently and accurately detect jamming attacks in WSNs with little or no overhead. Full article

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25 pages, 3084 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Delay-Aware Energy-Efficient Routing towards a Path-Fixed Mobile Sink in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

by Shaobo Wu, Wusheng Chou, Jianwei Niu and Mohsen Guizani

Sensors 2018, 18(3), 899; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18030899 - 18 Mar 2018

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5606

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) involve more mobile elements with their widespread development in industries. Exploiting mobility present in WSNs for data collection can effectively improve the network performance. However, when the sink (i.e., data collector) path is fixed and the movement is uncontrollable, [...] Read more.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) involve more mobile elements with their widespread development in industries. Exploiting mobility present in WSNs for data collection can effectively improve the network performance. However, when the sink (i.e., data collector) path is fixed and the movement is uncontrollable, existing schemes fail to guarantee delay requirements while achieving high energy efficiency. This paper proposes a delay-aware energy-efficient routing algorithm for WSNs with a path-fixed mobile sink, named DERM, which can strike a desirable balance between the delivery latency and energy conservation. We characterize the object of DERM as realizing the energy-optimal anycast to time-varying destination regions, and introduce a location-based forwarding technique tailored for this problem. To reduce the control overhead, a lightweight sink location calibration method is devised, which cooperates with the rough estimation based on the mobility pattern to determine the sink location. We also design a fault-tolerant mechanism called track routing to tackle location errors for ensuring reliable and on-time data delivery. We comprehensively evaluate DERM by comparing it with two canonical routing schemes and a baseline solution presented in this work. Extensive evaluation results demonstrate that DERM can provide considerable energy savings while meeting the delay constraint and maintaining a high delivery ratio. Full article

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34 pages, 6618 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Method for Dynamically Selecting the Best Frequency Hopping Technique in Industrial Wireless Sensor Network Applications

by Erlantz Fernández de Gorostiza, Jorge Berzosa, Jon Mabe and Roberto Cortiñas

Sensors 2018, 18(2), 657; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020657 - 23 Feb 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6355

Abstract

Industrial wireless applications often share the communication channel with other wireless technologies and communication protocols. This coexistence produces interferences and transmission errors which require appropriate mechanisms to manage retransmissions. Nevertheless, these mechanisms increase the network latency and overhead due to the retransmissions. Thus, [...] Read more.

Industrial wireless applications often share the communication channel with other wireless technologies and communication protocols. This coexistence produces interferences and transmission errors which require appropriate mechanisms to manage retransmissions. Nevertheless, these mechanisms increase the network latency and overhead due to the retransmissions. Thus, the loss of data packets and the measures to handle them produce an undesirable drop in the QoS and hinder the overall robustness and energy efficiency of the network. Interference avoidance mechanisms, such as frequency hopping techniques, reduce the need for retransmissions due to interferences but they are often tailored to specific scenarios and are not easily adapted to other use cases. On the other hand, the total absence of interference avoidance mechanisms introduces a security risk because the communication channel may be intentionally attacked and interfered with to hinder or totally block it. In this paper we propose a method for supporting the design of communication solutions under dynamic channel interference conditions and we implement dynamic management policies for frequency hopping technique and channel selection at runtime. The method considers several standard frequency hopping techniques and quality metrics, and the quality and status of the available frequency channels to propose the best combined solution to minimize the side effects of interferences. A simulation tool has been developed and used in this work to validate the method. Full article

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15 pages, 731 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Node Location Privacy Protection Based on Differentially Private Grids in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

by Jun Wang, Rongbo Zhu, Shubo Liu and Zhaohui Cai

Sensors 2018, 18(2), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020410 - 31 Jan 2018

Cited by 43 | Viewed by 5245

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely applied in industrial application with the rapid development of Industry 4.0. Combining with centralized cloud platform, the enormous computational power is provided for data analysis, such as strategy control and policy making. However, the data analysis and [...] Read more.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely applied in industrial application with the rapid development of Industry 4.0. Combining with centralized cloud platform, the enormous computational power is provided for data analysis, such as strategy control and policy making. However, the data analysis and mining will bring the issue of privacy leakage since sensors will collect varieties of data including sensitive location information of monitored objects. Differential privacy is a novel technique that can prevent compromising single record benefits. Geospatial data can be indexed by a tree structure; however, existing differentially private release methods pay no attention to the concrete analysis about the partition granularity of data domains. Based on the overall analysis of noise error and non-uniformity error, this paper proposes a data domain partitioning model, which is more accurate to choose the grid size. A uniform grid release method is put forward based on this model. In order to further reduce the errors, similar cells are merged, and then noise is added into the merged cells. Results show that our method significantly improves the query accuracy compared with other existing methods. Full article

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2017

Jump to: 2018

2726 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Collaboration-Oriented M2M Messaging Mechanism for the Collaborative Automation between Machines in Future Industrial Networks

by Zhaozong Meng, Zhipeng Wu and John Gray

Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2694; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17112694 - 22 Nov 2017

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7247

Abstract

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is a key enabling technology for industrial internet of things (IIoT)-empowered industrial networks, where machines communicate with one another for collaborative automation and intelligent optimisation. This new industrial computing paradigm features high-quality connectivity, ubiquitous messaging, and interoperable interactions between machines. [...] Read more.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is a key enabling technology for industrial internet of things (IIoT)-empowered industrial networks, where machines communicate with one another for collaborative automation and intelligent optimisation. This new industrial computing paradigm features high-quality connectivity, ubiquitous messaging, and interoperable interactions between machines. However, manufacturing IIoT applications have specificities that distinguish them from many other internet of things (IoT) scenarios in machine communications. By highlighting the key requirements and the major technical gaps of M2M in industrial applications, this article describes a collaboration-oriented M2M (CoM2M) messaging mechanism focusing on flexible connectivity and discovery, ubiquitous messaging, and semantic interoperability that are well suited for the production line-scale interoperability of manufacturing applications. The designs toward machine collaboration and data interoperability at both the communication and semantic level are presented. Then, the application scenarios of the presented methods are illustrated with a proof-of-concept implementation in the PicknPack food packaging line. Eventually, the advantages and some potential issues are discussed based on the PicknPack practice. Full article

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764 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Energy Scaled and Expanded Vector-Based Forwarding Scheme for Industrial Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks with Sink Mobility

by Zahid Wadud, Sajjad Hussain, Nadeem Javaid, Safdar Hussain Bouk, Nabil Alrajeh, Mohamad Souheil Alabed and Nadra Guizani

Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2251; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102251 - 30 Sep 2017

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5962

Abstract

Industrial Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (IUASNs) come with intrinsic challenges like long propagation delay, small bandwidth, large energy consumption, three-dimensional deployment, and high deployment and battery replacement cost. Any routing strategy proposed for IUASN must take into account these constraints. The vector based [...] Read more.

Industrial Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (IUASNs) come with intrinsic challenges like long propagation delay, small bandwidth, large energy consumption, three-dimensional deployment, and high deployment and battery replacement cost. Any routing strategy proposed for IUASN must take into account these constraints. The vector based forwarding schemes in literature forward data packets to sink using holding time and location information of the sender, forwarder, and sink nodes. Holding time suppresses data broadcasts; however, it fails to keep energy and delay fairness in the network. To achieve this, we propose an Energy Scaled and Expanded Vector-Based Forwarding (ESEVBF) scheme. ESEVBF uses the residual energy of the node to scale and vector pipeline distance ratio to expand the holding time. Resulting scaled and expanded holding time of all forwarding nodes has a significant difference to avoid multiple forwarding, which reduces energy consumption and energy balancing in the network. If a node has a minimum holding time among its neighbors, it shrinks the holding time and quickly forwards the data packets upstream. The performance of ESEVBF is analyzed through in network scenario with and without node mobility to ensure its effectiveness. Simulation results show that ESEVBF has low energy consumption, reduces forwarded data copies, and less end-to-end delay. Full article

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1981 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Reliable Handoff Mechanism for Mobile Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

by Jian Ma, Dong Yang, Hongke Zhang and Mikael Gidlund

Sensors 2017, 17(8), 1797; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17081797 - 4 Aug 2017

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7164

Abstract

With the prevalence of low-power wireless devices in industrial applications, concerns about timeliness and reliability are bound to continue despite the best efforts of researchers to design Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) to improve the performance of monitoring and control systems. As mobile [...] Read more.

With the prevalence of low-power wireless devices in industrial applications, concerns about timeliness and reliability are bound to continue despite the best efforts of researchers to design Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) to improve the performance of monitoring and control systems. As mobile devices have a major role to play in industrial production, IWSNs should support mobility. However, research on mobile IWSNs and practical tests have been limited due to the complicated resource scheduling and rescheduling compared with traditional wireless sensor networks. This paper proposes an effective mechanism to guarantee the performance of handoff, including a mobility-aware scheme, temporary connection and quick registration. The main contribution of this paper is that the proposed mechanism is implemented not only in our testbed but in a real industrial environment. The results indicate that our mechanism not only improves the accuracy of handoff triggering, but also solves the problem of ping-pong effect during handoff. Compared with the WirelessHART standard and the RSSI-based approach, our mechanism facilitates real-time communication while being more reliable, which can help end-to-end packet delivery remain an average of 98.5% in the scenario of mobile IWSNs. Full article

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1065 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Scheduling for Emergency Tasks in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

by Changqing Xia, Xi Jin, Linghe Kong and Peng Zeng

Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1674; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071674 - 20 Jul 2017

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4964

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely applied in industrial manufacturing systems. By means of centralized control, the real-time requirement and reliability can be provided by WSNs in industrial production. Furthermore, many approaches reserve resources for situations in which the controller cannot perform centralized [...] Read more.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely applied in industrial manufacturing systems. By means of centralized control, the real-time requirement and reliability can be provided by WSNs in industrial production. Furthermore, many approaches reserve resources for situations in which the controller cannot perform centralized resource allocation. The controller assigns these resources as it becomes aware of when and where accidents have occurred. However, the reserved resources are limited, and such incidents are low-probability events. In addition, resource reservation may not be effective since the controller does not know when and where accidents will actually occur. To address this issue, we improve the reliability of scheduling for emergency tasks by proposing a method based on a stealing mechanism. In our method, an emergency task is transmitted by stealing resources allocated to regular flows. The challenges addressed in our work are as follows: (1) emergencies occur only occasionally, but the industrial system must deliver the corresponding flows within their deadlines when they occur; (2) we wish to minimize the impact of emergency flows by reducing the number of stolen flows. The contributions of this work are two-fold: (1) we first define intersections and blocking as new characteristics of flows; and (2) we propose a series of distributed routing algorithms to improve the schedulability and to reduce the impact of emergency flows. We demonstrate that our scheduling algorithm and analysis approach are better than the existing ones by extensive simulations. Full article

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958 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Secure and Time-Aware Communication of Wireless Sensors Monitoring Overhead Transmission Lines

by Katarzyna Mazur, Michal Wydra and Bogdan Ksiezopolski

Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1610; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071610 - 11 Jul 2017

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 6687

Abstract

Existing transmission power grids suffer from high maintenance costs and scalability issues along with a lack of effective and secure system monitoring. To address these problems, we propose to use Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) as a technology to achieve energy efficient, reliable, and [...] Read more.

Existing transmission power grids suffer from high maintenance costs and scalability issues along with a lack of effective and secure system monitoring. To address these problems, we propose to use Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) as a technology to achieve energy efficient, reliable, and low-cost remote monitoring of transmission grids. With WSNs, smart grid enables both utilities and customers to monitor, predict and manage energy usage effectively and react to possible power grid disturbances in a timely manner. However, the increased application of WSNs also introduces new security challenges, especially related to privacy, connectivity, and security management, repeatedly causing unpredicted expenditures. Monitoring the status of the power system, a large amount of sensors generates massive amount of sensitive data. In order to build an effective Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for a smart grid, we focus on designing a methodology of efficient and secure delivery of the data measured on transmission lines. We perform a set of simulations, in which we examine different routing algorithms, security mechanisms and WSN deployments in order to select the parameters that will not affect the delivery time but fulfill their role and ensure security at the same time. Furthermore, we analyze the optimal placement of direct wireless links, aiming at minimizing time delays, balancing network performance and decreasing deployment costs. Full article

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636 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Data Aggregation Based on Overlapping Rate of Sensing Area in Wireless Sensor Networks

by Xiaolan Tang, Hua Xie, Wenlong Chen, Jianwei Niu and Shuhang Wang

Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1527; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071527 - 29 Jun 2017

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4762

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks are required in smart applications to provide accurate control, where the high density of sensors brings in a large quantity of redundant data. In order to reduce the waste of limited network resources, data aggregation is utilized to avoid redundancy [...] Read more.

Wireless sensor networks are required in smart applications to provide accurate control, where the high density of sensors brings in a large quantity of redundant data. In order to reduce the waste of limited network resources, data aggregation is utilized to avoid redundancy forwarding. However, most of aggregation schemes reduce information accuracy and prolong end-to-end delay when eliminating transmission overhead. In this paper, we propose a data aggregation scheme based on overlapping rate of sensing area, namely AggOR, aiming for energy-efficient data collection in wireless sensor networks with high information accuracy. According to aggregation rules, gathering nodes are selected from candidate parent nodes and appropriate neighbor nodes considering a preset threshold of overlapping rate of sensing area. Therefore, the collected data in a gathering area are highly correlated, and a large amount of redundant data could be cleaned. Meanwhile, AggOR keeps the original entropy by only deleting the duplicated data. Experiment results show that compared with others, AggOR has a high data accuracy and a short end-to-end delay with a similar network lifetime. Full article

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3443 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compressed-Sensing Reconstruction Based on Block Sparse Bayesian Learning in Bearing-Condition Monitoring

by Jiedi Sun, Yang Yu and Jiangtao Wen

Sensors 2017, 17(6), 1454; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17061454 - 21 Jun 2017

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6802

Abstract

Remote monitoring of bearing conditions, using wireless sensor network (WSN), is a developing trend in the industrial field. In complicated industrial environments, WSN face three main constraints: low energy, less memory, and low operational capability. Conventional data-compression methods, which concentrate on data compression [...] Read more.

Remote monitoring of bearing conditions, using wireless sensor network (WSN), is a developing trend in the industrial field. In complicated industrial environments, WSN face three main constraints: low energy, less memory, and low operational capability. Conventional data-compression methods, which concentrate on data compression only, cannot overcome these limitations. Aiming at these problems, this paper proposed a compressed data acquisition and reconstruction scheme based on Compressed Sensing (CS) which is a novel signal-processing technique and applied it for bearing conditions monitoring via WSN. The compressed data acquisition is realized by projection transformation and can greatly reduce the data volume, which needs the nodes to process and transmit. The reconstruction of original signals is achieved in the host computer by complicated algorithms. The bearing vibration signals not only exhibit the sparsity property, but also have specific structures. This paper introduced the block sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL) algorithm which works by utilizing the block property and inherent structures of signals to reconstruct CS sparsity coefficients of transform domains and further recover the original signals. By using the BSBL, CS reconstruction can be improved remarkably. Experiments and analyses showed that BSBL method has good performance and is suitable for practical bearing-condition monitoring. Full article

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1987 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Public Auditing with Privacy Protection in a Multi-User Model of Cloud-Assisted Body Sensor Networks

by Song Li, Jie Cui, Hong Zhong and Lu Liu

Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1032; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051032 - 5 May 2017

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5879

Abstract

Wireless Body Sensor Networks (WBSNs) are gaining importance in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT). The modern medical system is a particular area where the WBSN techniques are being increasingly adopted for various fundamental operations. Despite such increasing deployments of WBSNs, [...] Read more.

Wireless Body Sensor Networks (WBSNs) are gaining importance in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT). The modern medical system is a particular area where the WBSN techniques are being increasingly adopted for various fundamental operations. Despite such increasing deployments of WBSNs, issues such as the infancy in the size, capabilities and limited data processing capacities of the sensor devices restrain their adoption in resource-demanding applications. Though providing computing and storage supplements from cloud servers can potentially enrich the capabilities of the WBSNs devices, data security is one of the prevailing issues that affects the reliability of cloud-assisted services. Sensitive applications such as modern medical systems demand assurance of the privacy of the users’ medical records stored in distant cloud servers. Since it is economically impossible to set up private cloud servers for every client, auditing data security managed in the remote servers has necessarily become an integral requirement of WBSNs’ applications relying on public cloud servers. To this end, this paper proposes a novel certificateless public auditing scheme with integrated privacy protection. The multi-user model in our scheme supports groups of users to store and share data, thus exhibiting the potential for WBSNs’ deployments within community environments. Furthermore, our scheme enriches user experiences by offering public verifiability, forward security mechanisms and revocation of illegal group members. Experimental evaluations demonstrate the security effectiveness of our proposed scheme under the Random Oracle Model (ROM) by outperforming existing cloud-assisted WBSN models. Full article

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543 KiB

Open AccessReview

Software Defined Networking for Improved Wireless Sensor Network Management: A Survey

by Musa Ndiaye, Gerhard P. Hancke and Adnan M. Abu-Mahfouz

Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1031; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051031 - 4 May 2017

Cited by 180 | Viewed by 18339

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming increasingly popular with the advent of the Internet of things (IoT). Various real-world applications of WSNs such as in smart grids, smart farming and smart health would require a potential deployment of thousands or maybe hundreds of [...] Read more.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming increasingly popular with the advent of the Internet of things (IoT). Various real-world applications of WSNs such as in smart grids, smart farming and smart health would require a potential deployment of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of sensor nodes/actuators. To ensure proper working order and network efficiency of such a network of sensor nodes, an effective WSN management system has to be integrated. However, the inherent challenges of WSNs such as sensor/actuator heterogeneity, application dependency and resource constraints have led to challenges in implementing effective traditional WSN management. This difficulty in management increases as the WSN becomes larger. Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides a promising solution in flexible management WSNs by allowing the separation of the control logic from the sensor nodes/actuators. The advantage with this SDN-based management in WSNs is that it enables centralized control of the entire WSN making it simpler to deploy network-wide management protocols and applications on demand. This paper highlights some of the recent work on traditional WSN management in brief and reviews SDN-based management techniques for WSNs in greater detail while drawing attention to the advantages that SDN brings to traditional WSN management. This paper also investigates open research challenges in coming up with mechanisms for flexible and easier SDN-based WSN configuration and management. Full article

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