Towards cloud integration for industrial wireless sensor network systems

Abstract

The paper discusses the advantages and challenges for a cloud-based system architecture for process monitoring and statistical analysis of network performance. The focus is on integrating industrial wireless sensor networks (IWSN), composed of low-power wireless field devices for sensing and actuation, with cloud infrastructures, enabling remote access over secure real-time communication channels. The proposed cloud integration solution implements RESTful services at a coordinator node level of the WSN, allowing the implementation of a scalable and more performant communication infrastructure. The overall system allows functionality for visualization, data storage and processing and distributed algorithms that can run across heterogeneous multi-level monitoring and control systems. We present a modeling and simulation approach for scalable IPv6-based industrial wireless sensor networks, highlight effective mechanisms for cloud interoperability and argument the feasibility of the proposed system.