PhD Defence Mr Arne Henrik Bröring

Department of Geo-Information Processing

Automated On-the-fly Integration of Geosensors with the Sensor Web

By looking at different use cases from the disaster management domain, this thesis identifies the need for up-to-date information, derived from geosensor data, as crucial for responsible decision making. Further, an infrastructure is needed that provides multiple parties interoperable, i.e., well-defined and homogeneous, access to the variety of participating geosensors. A Sensor Web reflects such an infrastructure. Once sensors and Sensor Web are in place, a mechanism is needed that is able to connect newly available sensors with Sensor Web services, so that an access to sensors is enabled right after their deployment. This challenge is addressed in this thesis; the required approach for an automated on-the-fly integration of geosensors with the Sensor Web is called here sensor plug & play.

To achieve this goal, the approach developed in this thesis comprises the following key building blocks.

First, a publish/subscribe mechanism has been developed through the Sensor Bus that enables the automated registration of sensors at Sensor Web services. The Sensor Bus is a realization of the more abstract view of an intermediary layer between sensor layer and the Sensor Web layer. By defining the generic interaction patterns of the intermediary layer, before designing the message protocol of the Sensor Bus, a conceptual foundation is presented that can be realized and applied in different ways.

Second, a generic driver mechanism has been developed through the Sensor Interface Descriptor (SID) model which extends the SensorML standard. Using an SID, i.e., the description of a sensor's interface, an SID Interpreter can communicate with the sensor and translate between its native protocol and a target protocol, e.g., the Sensor Bus protocol. Thus, the SID concept bridges the interoperability gap between sensors and the Sensor Web. To facilitate the creation of SID instances, the SID Creator tool has been developed and tested within a user study.

Third, the Sensor Bus has been extended by mediators which enable the automated matchmaking of characteristics required by a Sensor Web service and those advertised by a sensor. The focus has been put on ensuring the semantic matching (e.g., the advertised sensor output and required observed property needs to match); enabling temporal and spatial matchmaking can be realized in a similar way.

Next, the designed and implemented approach has been applied to three use cases in which OGC's Sensor Web Enablement framework of standards has been chosen as an example Sensor Web realization. In a flood monitoring scenario, the G-WaLe sensor has been integrated with a Sensor Observation Service as well as a Sensor Planning Service using the SID concept and the Sensor Bus. Then, the SID Creator has been evaluated in a user study where the participants integrated a home weather station with the Sensor Web by envisioning a usage of such sensors to improve forest fire risk assessment. Finally, the semantic mediation has been demonstrated by plugging three marine sensors into a Sensor Web in context of an oil spill monitoring scenario. Once those sensor integrations with the Sensor Web take place, it is easy for decision support systems to access the data and feed environmental models.

By applying the developed approach in the three use cases, it has been learned that, once the approach is setup after initial administration steps, the on-the-fly integration of sensors with the Sensor Web has become possible. Thereby, a key benefit of the approach is its grounding in standards and its open specification. This allows reusing and sharing of compliant components (e.g., SID instances for specific sensor types). The developed framework provides the conceptual basis for future implementations of tools, such as the SID Creator, which further facilitate users in integrating sensors with Sensor Web services.

Biography

Since 2004, Arne has worked at the Institute for Geoinformatics (IfGI) of the University of Muenster (Germany) and has contributed to several research projects, which investigate and design efficient software architectures for the Sensor Web and the Geospatial Web in general. In 2007, Arne completed his Masters which focused on the design of the OX-Framework to enable the visualization and processing of standardized sensor data provided by OGC web services. Since the completion of his Master studies, Arne is working as a software architect on innovative solutions for the open source initiative 52°North and as a research associate for the Sensor Web, Web-based Geoprocessing, and Simulation Lab (SWSL) at IfGI. From March until September 2008, Arne was part of the Multi-purpose Environmental Modeling Facility (MEMF Lab) at the University of Windsor (Canada) and worked on technologies for sensor network modelling and management. In parallel to his work, Arne enrolled in 2009 as a PhD student at the ITC, the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente (Netherlands).

The focus of his research lies on concepts for bridging the gap between sensor networks and the Sensor Web to realize a true sensor plug & play for geosensors. Additionally, he is interested in research on the Web of Things, the Semantic Sensor Web, visualization of sensor data, as well as the role of humans on the Sensor Web.

Further, Arne is involved in the development of standards at OGC's Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) initiative. As the chair of the Sensor Observation Service (SOS) working group, Arne has edited the SOS 2.0 standard. In addition, Arne has contributed to the PUCK protocol standard, as well as the SWE Service Model standard.

Broering, A., Kraak, M.J. (Promotor) and Lemmens, R.L.G. (assistant promotor) (2012) Automated on - the - fly integration of geosensors with the sensor web. PhD thesis University of Twente, Summaries in English and Dutch. ITC Dissertation 211, ISBN: 978-90-6164-334-0.

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