Abstract:

The advent of networked monitoring systems, fully integrated with the IT infrastructure, has the potential to radically improve our ability to manage our envi- ronment, from buildings to ecosystems. The rationale is that cheaper, smaller and more energy efficient monitoring systems embedded in the Internet will improve the volume and quality of the sensor data that we collect, and thus lead to more accurate models of our environment and better predictions of its evolution. In this context, collecting and managing sensor data is a key issue.

In this talk, I will first describe the specific challenges of sensor data engineering. I will then present the abstractions and architectural principles that have emerged over the last ten years as well as some lessons I have learnt through successive projects (Cougar, Hogthrob, Mana), and discuss remaining open issues.