Abstract
The increasing demand for context awareness makes WS&ANs (Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network) a rather popular topic. In recent years, a wide range of commercial applications based on WS&ANs have been released, such as smart home solutions, Smart City solutions, e-Healthcare. In these applications, a large number of different sensor network protocols are applied to fulfil various functionalities and purposes of WS&ANs. Additionally, heterogeneous sensor nodes from multi-vendor are deployed. Although the importance of interconnection between heterogeneous sensor platforms is commonly acknowledged in order to provide better quality and more quantity of the services, it is still a big challenge due to the heterogeneity such as specific administrative control, various protocols, different purpose and the economic interests of WS&ANs vendors. With the focus on the network level, this research aims to provide a solution for realising interconnection between heterogeneous sensor platforms and WS&ANs, which enables the possibility of sharing and utilising resources across sensor nodes and networks without the obstacle brought by their heterogeneity. Instead of following the main research direction, network virtualisation, to design and standardize a one-fits-all protocol and middleware that should cater for the requirements of the different types of WS&ANs, a new approach called Progressive Protocol Stack Reconfiguration (PPSR) is proposed. With the reconfigurability of protocol stacks, this approach enables communication management between heterogeneous networks by adapting the protocol stacks to one another at lower cost and delay. PPSR was simulated and implemented in this research to prove the success of the concept. Being applied in gateways between the sensor networks and the access networks, the PPSR approach increases the flexibility and facilitates connectivity for networks when a sensor network roams between heterogeneous networks.