The SIXTH Middleware: sensible sensing for the sensor web
Dominic Carr · Research Repository UCD (University College Dublin) · 2015
Governments, multinationals, researchers, and enthusiasts are presently weaving the planet’s “electronic skin” (Gross, 1999) via miniature, wireless, low-power sensor technologies. However, the control and interconnection of these diverse heterogeneous devices remains difficult, tedious, and time consuming.The thesis proposes and develops a novel sensor-domain middleware permissive of any data source which espouses flexibility, domain modelling, design patterns, extensibility, and simplicity. This thesis provides an extensive review of the state of the art in middleware for sensor technologies. In doing so, a set of shortcomings is identified which form the basis for a desiderata for future sensor network middleware. In line with these aspirations the SIXTH middleware is designed, implemented, and evaluated thoroughly.The design of SIXTH is true to the domain directly mapping virtual representations to real-world artifacts. The design incorporates the abstractions prevalent in low-level domain middleware such as logical grouping aggregates, and queries. SIXTH advances the state of the art by providing improvements over the form and function of its near neighbours. A concrete implementation has been delivered using OSGi as its basis. This implementation is evaluated through its usage in published case-studies, a survey of the developers utilizing the framework, and through objective code metrics.