1. ATSN 2009 Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems Dirk Bade University of Hamburg, Germany

2. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #2 Overview Preface Introduction Challenges Proposed Solution ▪Application Scenario ▪Middleware Architecture ▪Implementation Discussion Conclusion and Future Work

3. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #3 Preface Different Shades of Middleware ▪Sensor Network Middleware supports development, maintenance, deployment, execution of sensing-based applications focuses on e.g. power & topology management, data transmission & aggregation inside the network ▪Middleware beyond Sensor Networks high-level processing & distribution of sensor data considered as black box

4. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #4 Motivation Sensor Networks & RFID Systems… ▪Although hyped, still in an early state of adoption ▪High investments, few standards, missing killer applications ▪Several projects already realized Designed for a special purpose Not interoperable … will once become widespread ▪More experience with technologies ▪New emerging requirements  Standards and best-practices will evolve  Frequent redesigns of applications & frameworks

5. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #5 Robustness Adaptivity Flexibility Openness Heterogeneity Scalability Challenges The Software-Engineering Perspective ▪Evolution of standards and best-practices requires well designed software infrastructures ▪Avoiding a Software-Engineering Nightmare General, non-functional design-goals for a Sensor Network Middleware Tolerance towards failures, overloading Adaptation of processing to changing conditions Deployment in different scales Middleware shall be extensible and in parts exchangeable Support for different device- and data types Deal with drastically increasing loads

6. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #6 Proposed Solution Agent-based Event Stream Processing Middleware ▪Agents as … design-paradigm for complex distributed processing building blocks for different functional roles ▪Agents are able to … cope with environmental dynamics coordinate among themselves by (a)synchronous message exchange following standardized communication patterns exhibit different behaviors according to their context ▪Event Stream Processing allows to … efficiently process multiple streams of event data (e.g. from WSN) identify meaningful events and complex patterns correlate & abstract events to create Application Level Events

7. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #7 High Level View

8. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #8 Smart Container Monitoring ▪Trading company expects to receive a pallet with TV devices Pallet is packed in a Smart Container equipped with several sensors Once the container is unpacked, sensor logs are read If sensor values exceed a threshold, a mechanic is called to check ▪States of interest are … Pallet does not arrive in time Pallet arrived, but sensor values indicate possible damage Pallet arrived, everything is OK. ▪Trading Company registers states of interests and information is pushed to the TC once a state is achieved  no pulling required Application Scenario

9. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #9 Architecture SELECT * FROM MyEvent WHERE id BETWEEN x AND y AND (overallacc > 5 OR humidity > 80 OR temperature > 50) Processing WorkflowComplex Event Pattern

10. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #10 Jadex Event Stream Processing Architecture (JESPA) ▪Core infrastructure has already been implemented ▪Network Edge currently supports SunSPOTs, NFC Mobiles, and MagicMap ▪Network Layer Lightweight (and BDI-)Agents running on Jadex v2 HLEF powered by Esper CEP Runtime ▪Application Layer Simple Event Generators MagicTracker, an Integration of JESPA with MagicMap Implementation

11. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #11 Towards meeting the non-functional design-goals ▪Abilities of agents allow different ways to achieve their goals. ▪Agents are loosely coupled. ▪Dynamic binding achieved by federated yellow pages. ▪Functional changes may be handled by injecting or replacing agent types. ▪Most middleware components are optional ▪Lightweight agents used for simple tasks, BDI-agents for more sophisticated ones. ▪Different event sources, data formats and processing devices supported ▪Processing of events may be easily distributed and parallelized ▪Security not considered yet Discussion

12. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #12 Conclusion & Future Work Conclusion ▪WSNs more widely deployed, post-WSN data processing more important ▪Challenging design of event-processing middlewares as standards, requirements and best-practices will change. ▪Agent-based ESP shall meet these challenges. ▪JESPA-Prototype incorporates agent-based ESP Future Work ▪Push the implementation ▪Develop Monitoring Tools and Event Generators ▪Foster application integration

13. Towards an Extensible Agent-based Middleware for Sensor Networks and RFID Systems #13 Thank You Questions ? Dirk Bade bade@informatik.uni-hamburg.de