Sensor system lab

At IBM Research - Zurich, we have built a sensor system lab for prototyping and testing end-to-end sensor solutions — ranging from the hardware of the sensor and actuator devices to the application software executed on enterprise servers. Various types of wireless sensor networks, sensor gateways, and communications middleware connect the sensor world to the enterprise computing environment and the sensor application software. The sensor system lab serves to

• evaluate the performance of wireless technologies that are relevant for sensor networking, e.g.  IEEE 802.15.4 with Zigbee or -TinyOS protocol stacks, Bluetooth WPANs, etc.,
• test lightweight, new messaging protocols for communication between sensors and applications,
• develop experimental applications, e.g. for remote monitoring, smart metering, and location sensing.

In order to investigate the behavior and performance of the recently developed publish/subscribe messaging protocol MQTT-S under real conditions, we implemented and deployed two ZigBee-based WSNs. One is located in our data center and the other in our office building. Each node is equipped with three sensors, one for temperature, one for humidity, and one for light intensity. The nodes read regularly the values measured by the sensors and use the MQTT-S protocol to publish the data. Several applications were implemented that use MQTT-S for accessing the sensors data and sending control information to the sensor nodes. Figure 1 shows a snapshot of the wireless network deployed in our office building. A "live example" demonstrating the real-time acquisition of light intensity data can be observed here.

Figure 1. Wireless network deployed on the 2nd floor of our office building.