Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have found more and more applications in a variety of pervasive computing environments. However, how to support the development, maintenance, deployment and execution of applications over WSNs remains to be a nontrivial and challenging task, mainly because of the gap between the high level requirements from pervasive computing applications and the underlying operation of WSNs. Middleware for WSN can help bridge the gap and remove impediments. In recent years, research has been carried out on WSN middleware from different aspects and for different purposes. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the existing work on WSN middleware, seeking for a better understanding of the current issues and future directions in this field. We propose a reference framework to analyze the functionalities of WSN middleware in terms of the system abstractions and the services provided. We review the approaches and techniques for implementing the services. On the basis of the analysis and by using a feature tree, we provide taxonomy of the features of WSN middleware and their relationships, and use the taxonomy to classify and evaluate existing work. We also discuss open problems in this important area of research.

The use of mobile nodes to improve network system performance has drawn considerable attention recently. The movement-assisted model considers mobility as a desirable feature, where routing is based on the store-carry-forward paradigm with random or controlled movement of resource rich mobile nodes. The application of such a model has been used in several emerging networks, including mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and delay tolerant networks (DTNs). It is well known that mobility increases the capacity of MANETs by reducing the number of relays for routing, prolonging the lifespan of WSNs by using mobile nodes in place of bottleneck static sensors, and ensuring network connectivity in DTNs using mobile nodes to connect different parts of a disconnected network. Trajectory planning and the coordination of mobile nodes are two important design issues aiming to optimize or balance several measures, including delay, average number of relays, and moving distance. In this paper, we propose a new controlled mobility model with an expected polylogarithmic number of relays to achieve a good balance among several contradictory goals, including delay, the number of relays, and moving distance. The model is based on the small-world model where each static node has ``short'' link connections to its nearest neighbors and ``long'' link connections to other nodes following a certain probability distribution. Short links are regular wireless connections whereas long links are implemented using mobile nodes. Various issues are considered, including trade-offs between delay and average number of relays, selection of the number of mobile nodes, and selection of the number of long links. The effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated analytically as well as through simulation.

We study random and periodic sleep schedules from the point of view of delay in detecting the target. We consider sleep schedules in which a sensor in "inactive" mode wakes up either randomly or periodically to detect presence of the target within its vicinity resulting into two sleep schedules: (a) random wake-up schedule, and (b) periodic wake-up schedule respectively. Specifically, we analyse and obtain for the random wake-up schedule the expected delay in detection, and the delay, such that with probability $P$, the delay is less than the computed value. For the periodic wake-up schedule we show that there exists an upper bound on the delay. Further we compute the average value of delay. We have shown that the theoretically computed averages and the upper bounds on the delay match with the simulation results for the random wake-up and periodic wake-up schedules.

To minimize the execution time of a sensing task over a multi-hop hierarchical sensor network, we present a coordinated scheduling method following the divisible load scheduling paradigm. The proposed scheduling strategy builds on eliminating transmission collisions and idle gaps between two successive data transmissions. We consider a sensor network consisting of several clusters. In a cluster, after related raw data measured by source nodes are collected at the fusion node, in-network data aggregation is further considered. The scheduling strategies consist of two phases: intra-cluster scheduling and inter-cluster scheduling. Intra-cluster scheduling deals with assigning different fractions of a sensing workload among source nodes in each cluster; inter-cluster scheduling involves the distribution of fused data among all fusion nodes. Closed-form solutions to the problem of task scheduling are derived. Finally, numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the impacts of different system parameters such as the number of sensor nodes, measurement, communication, and processing speed, on the finish time and energy consumption.

It is well known that 802.11 suffers from both inefficiency and unfairness in the face of competition and interference. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the impact of topology and traffic type on network performance when two flows compete with each other for airspace. We consider both TCP and UDP flows and a comprehensive set of node topologies. We vary these topologies to consider all combinations of the following four node-to-node interactions: (1) nodes unable to read or sense each other, (2) nodes able to sense each other but not able to read each other's packets and nodes able to communicate with (3) weak and with (4) strong signal. We evaluate all possible cases through simulation and show that the cases can be reduced to 9 UDP and 10 TCP 802.11g models with similar efficiency/fairness characteristics. We also validate our simulation results with extensive experiments conducted in a laboratory testbed. These more detailed models improve on previous work such as hidden-exposed-terminal categorization and are thus better suited as a basis for adaptive techniques to improve performance in 802.11 multi-hop WLAN or Mesh Networks.

The IEEE 802.15.4 specification is a recent low data rate wireless personal area network standard. While basic security services are provided for, there is a lack of more advanced techniques which are indispensable in modern personal area network applications. In addition, performance implications of those services are not known. In this paper, we describe a secure data exchange protocol based on the ZigBee specification and built on top of IEEE 802.15.4 link layer. This protocol includes a key exchange mechanism. We assume that all nodes are applying power management technique based on the constant event sensing reliability required by the coordinator. Power management generates random sleep times by every node which in average fairly distributes the sensing load among the nodes. Key exchange is initiated by a cluster coordinator after some given number of sensing packets have been received by the coordinator. We develop and integrate simulation model of the key exchange and power management technique into the cluster's reliable sensing function. We evaluate the impact of security function and its periodicity on cluster performance.

In this paper, the spreading of malicious software over ad hoc networks, where legitimate nodes are prone to propagate the infections they receive from either an attacker or their already infected neighbors, is analyzed. Considering the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) node infection paradigm we propose a probabilistic model, on the basis of the theory of closed queuing networks, that aims at describing the aggregated behavior of the system when attacked by malicious nodes. Because of its nature, the model is also able to deal more effectively with the stochastic behavior of attackers and the inherent probabilistic nature of the wireless environment. The proposed model is able to describe accurately the asymptotic behavior of malware-propagative large scale ad hoc networking environments. Using the Norton equivalent of the closed queuing network, we obtain analytical results for its steady state behavior, which in turn is used for identifying the critical parameters affecting the operation of the network. Finally, through modeling and simulation, some additional numerical results are obtained with respect to the behavior of the system when multiple attackers are present, and regarding the time-dependent evolution and impact of an attack.

Sensor networks are envisioned to revolutionize our daily life by ubiquitously monitoring our environment and/or adjusting it to suit our needs. Recent progress in robotics and low-power embedded systems has made it possible to add mobility to small, light, low-cost sensors to be used in teams or swarms. Augmenting static sensor networks with mobile nodes addresses many design challenges that exist in traditional static sensor networks. This paper addresses the problem of topology control in mobile wireless networks. Limitations in communication, computation and energy capabilities push towards the adoption of distributed, energy-efficient solutions to perform self-deployment and relocation of the nodes. We develop a unified, distributed algorithm that has the following features. During deployment, our algorithm yields a regular tessellation of the geographical area with a given node density, called {\em monitoring configuration}. Upon the occurrence of a physical phenomenon, network nodes relocate themselves so as to properly sample and control the event, while maintaining the network connectivity. Then, as soon as the event ends, all nodes return to the monitoring configuration. To achieve these goals, we use a virtual force-based strategy which proves to be very effective even when compared to an optimal centralized solution. We assess the performance of our approach in the presence of events with different shapes, and we investigate the transient behavior of our algorithm. This allows us to evaluate the effectiveness and the response time of the proposed solution under various environmental conditions.

The allocation of bandwidth to unlicensed users, without significantly increasing the interference on the existing licensed users, is a challenge for Ultra Wideband (UWB) networks. Our research work presents a novel Rake Optimization and Power Aware Scheduling (ROPAS) architecture for UWB networks. Since UWB communication is rich in multipath effects, a Rake receiver is used for path diversity. Our idea of developing an optimized Rake receiver in our ROPAS architecture stems from the intention of reducing the computation complexity in terms of the number of multiplications and additions needed for the weight derivation attached to each finger of the Rake receiver. Our proposed work uses the Cognitive Radio (CR) for dynamic channel allocation among the requesting users while limiting the average power transmitted in each sub-band. In our proposed novel ROPAS architecture, dynamic channel allocation is achieved by a CR-based cross-layer design between the PHY and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers. Additionally, the maximum number of parallel transmissions within a frame interval is formulated as an optimization problem. This optimal decision is based on the distance parameter between a transmitter-receiver pair, bit error rate and frequency of request by a particular application. Moreover, the optimization problem improvises a differentiation technique among the requesting applications by incorporating priority levels among user applications. This provides fairness and higher throughput among services with varying power constraint and data rates required for a UWB network.

Gossip-based algorithms for information dissemination have recently received significant attention for sensor and ad hoc network applications because of their simplicity and robustness. However, a common drawback of many gossip-based protocols is the waste of energy in passing redundant information over the network. Thus gossip algorithms need to be re-engineered in order to become applicable to energy constrained networks. In this paper, we consider a scenario where each node in the network holds a piece of information (message) at the beginning, and the objective is to simultaneously disseminate all information (messages) among all nodes quickly and cheaply. To provide a practical solution to this problem for ad hoc and sensor networks, {NBgossip} algorithm is proposed, which is based on network coding and neighborhood gossip. In NBgossip, nodes do not simply forward messages they receive, instead, the linear combinations of the messages are sent out. In addition, every node exchanges messages with its neighboring nodes only. Mathematical proof and simulation studies show that the proposed NBgossip terminates in the optimal $O(n)$-order rounds and outperforms the existing gossip-based approaches in terms of energy consumption incurred in spreading all the information.

Geographic Routing (GR) algorithms require nodes to periodically transmit HELLO messages to allow neighbors to know their positions (beaconing mechanism). Beacon-less routing algorithms have recently been proposed to reduce the control overheads due to these messages. However, existing beacon-less algorithms have not considered realistic physical layers. Therefore, those algorithms cannot work properly in realistic scenarios. In this paper we present a new beacon-less routing protocol called BOSS. Its design is based on the conclusions of our open-field experiments using Tmote-sky sensors. BOSS is adapted to error-prone networks and incorporates a new mechanism to reduce collisions and duplicate messages produced during the selection of the next forwarder node. We compare BOSS with Beacon-Less Routing (BLR) and Contention-Based Forwarding (CBF) algorithms through extensive simulations. The results show that our scheme is able to achieve almost perfect packet delivery ratio (like BLR) while having a low bandwidth consumption (even lower than CBF). Additionally, we carried out an empirical evaluation in a real testbed that shows the correctness of our simulation results.

It is now commonly accepted that the unit disk graph used to model the physical layer in wireless networks does not reflect real radio transmissions, and that a more realistic model should be considered for experimental simulations. Previous work on realistic scenarios has been focused on unicast, however broadcast requirements are fundamentally different and cannot be derived from the unicast case. Therefore, the broadcast protocols must be adapted in order to still be efficient under realistic assumptions. In this paper, we study the well-known multipoint relay broadcast protocol (MPR), in which each node has to choose a set of $1$-hop neighbors to act as relays in order to cover the whole $2$-hop neighborhood. We give experimental results showing that the original strategy used to select these multipoint relays does not suit a realistic model. On the basis of these results, we propose new selection strategies solely based on link quality. One of the key aspects of our solutions is that our strategies do not require any additional hardware and may be implemented at the application layer, which is particularly relevant to the context of ad hoc and sensor networks where energy savings are mandatory. We finally provide new experimental results that demonstrate the superiority of our strategies under realistic physical assumptions.

Grouping nodes gives better performance to the whole network by diminishing the average network delay and avoiding unnecessary message forwarding and additional overhead. Many routing protocols for ad-hoc and sensor networks have been designed but none of them are based on groups. In this paper, we will start defining group-based topologies, and then we will show how some wireless ad hoc sensor networks (WAHSN) routing protocols perform when the nodes are arranged in groups. In our proposal connections between groups are established as a function of the proximity of the nodes and the neighbor's available capacity (based on the node's energy). We describe the architecture proposal, the messages that are needed for the proper operation and its mathematical description. We have also simulated how much time is needed to propagate information between groups. Finally, we will show a comparison with other architectures.