CAREER: Sensing as a Service - Architectures for Closed-Loop Sensor Network Virtualization

该项目的目标是演示新的网络物理体系结构，该体系结构允许通过动态分配传感、网络和计算资源在多个应用之间共享闭环传感器网络。传感器网络基础设施的共享使数据的提供更具成本效益，并导致虚拟专用传感器网络(VPSN)体系结构的出现，从而显著增加可供公共使用的传感器网络的数量。这些网络基础设施支持一种称为感知即服务的模式，在该模式中，用户可以获得感知和计算资源，以生成其感知应用所需的数据。共享闭环传感器网络的挑战在于一个应用程序的启动请求可能会干扰另一个应用程序的请求。为了应对这一挑战，VPSN体系结构由三个部分组成：1)传感器虚拟化层，确保用户在请求时及时访问传感器数据，并通过创建适当的调度算法将他们的请求与其他请求隔离；2)计算虚拟化层，允许为与传感器虚拟化层紧密相关的实时数据密集型应用分配计算资源；3)虚拟化工具包，支持应用程序开发人员为虚拟的闭环传感器网络构建应用程序。闭环传感器网络的共享大大节省了基础设施和维护成本。拟议的VPSN体系结构使用户能够创建自己的应用程序，而无需详细了解传感技术，并允许他们专注于应用程序的开发。VPSN将有助于创建一个全国性的共享传感网络基础设施，该基础设施将为公共安全和安保提供关键信息。VPSN还将有助于彻底改变许多学科的本科生和研究生进行研究的方式。学生们将被屏蔽在传感器网络的一些复杂性之外，并允许专注于他们的核心研究。为了让马萨诸塞大学电气和计算机工程系的学生做好从事此类研究的准备，将开设集成系统工程和传感器网络虚拟化领域的新课程。

The goal of this project is to demonstrate new cyber-physical architectures that allow the sharing of closed-loop sensor networks among multiple applications through the dynamic allocation of sensing, networking, and computing resources. The sharing of sensor network infrastructures makes the provision of data more cost efficient and leads to virtual private sensor network (VPSN) architectures that can dramatically increase the number of sensor networks available for public use. These cyber infrastructures support a paradigm, called Sensing as a Service, in which users can obtain sensing and computational resources to generate the required data for their sensing applications. The challenge in sharing closed-loop sensor networks is that one application's actuation request might interfere with another's request. To address this challenge the VPSN architectures are comprised of three components: 1) a sensor virtualization layer that ensures that users obtain timely access to sensor data when requested and isolates their requests from others' through the creation of appropriate scheduling algorithms; 2) a computation virtualization layer that enables the allocation of computational resources for real-time data intensive applications which is closely tied to the sensor virtualization layer; 3) a virtualization toolkit that supports application developers in their efforts to build applications for virtualized, closed-loop sensor networks.The sharing of closed-loop sensor networks leads to substantial savings on infrastructure and maintenance costs. The proposed VPSN architectures enable users to create their own applications without having detailed knowledge of sensing technologies and allows them to focus on the development of applications. VPSNs will contribute to the creation of a nationwide, shared sensing cyber infrastructure, which will provide critical information for public safety and security. VPSNs will also help to revolutionize the way undergraduate and graduate students from many disciplines perform research. Students will be shielded from some of the complexities of sensor networks and allowed to focus on their core research. To prepare students from the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at the University of Massachusetts to perform this kind of research, new classes in the area of Integrative Systems Engineering and Sensor Network Virtualization will be offered.