In a few years, PCs, PDAs, and cell phones will be outnumbered by sensor and actuators. New forms of machine-to-machine Networking will emerge and enable a plethora of new services and applications: for industrial automation, asset management, environmental monitoring, in the medical and transportation business, and in a variety of safety and security scenarios (see Figure 1).

IBM's goal in this area is to provide complete end-to-end solutions ranging from sensors and actuators to business applications, such as integrating sensor networks with enterprise computer networks and the Internet. Figure 2 shows the complete area to be covered — from the sensor/actuator domain on the left to the business application server domain at the right, and from an XML-based control system at the top to the necessary hardware at the bottom. For many applications, such as asset control or condition-based maintenance, a very large number of sensors may create an avalanche of data streaming through the network to the application servers. Data aggregation, abstraction, and filtering at the edge of the network will therefore become a necessity. Also, sensor networks may be deployed in remote locations, which requires remote system management for control and configuration as well as support for software updates. A federated network architecture that supports such requirements is shown in Figure 3.

In the Zurich Sensor Networks project, we are leveraging our expertise in wireless networking and gateway / platform design to develop the infrastructure that can support IBM's business in the area of end-to-end enterprise solutions. For this, we collaborate with the Internet Scale Architecture project at IBM's Watson lab. Together with the Advanced messaging technologies project, we are building a sensor network testbed to verify IBM's end-to-end concept and evaluate its performance and scalability. Equally important, the testbed serves as a reference design and demo platform for various customer engagements. We are supporting IBM Engineering & Technology Services and the Sensors & Actuators EBO, especially in the industrial automation and asset management areas.

Our research focuses on wireless technologies, hardware/software platforms for smart sensor units and gateways, and messaging middleware. We are carrying out performance evaluation with short-range wireless technologies that are highly relevant for sensor networking, such as IEEE 802.15.4 / ZigBee, Bluetooth, and IEEE 802.11. We are also exploring the merits of wireless mesh networking to extend the range and enhance reliability. In addition, we are addressing the growing need for location-sensing functionality in wireless and sensor networks.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology (UWB-RT) is emerging as a promising candidate for very low-power sensor networking and precise real-time location tracking applications. We are assessing the merits and performance of UWB-RT for these application areas and explore opportunities for integrating the technology in IBM's Enterprise Solutions.

Future 4G mobile networks will support a broad range of applications that include telematics and sensor networking. In the context of the EU 6th framework project WINNER, we are contributing to the design of a future heterogeneous air interface for 4G wireless / mobile networks.