METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING A VIRTUAL WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

• US 20120176938A1
• Filed: 12/14/2011
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys Limited)
• Original Assignee: Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys Limited)
• Inventors: PADMANABH, Kumar, VUPPALA, Sunil Kumar, VANTEDDU, Adi Mallikarjuna Reddy, SEN, Sougata, KUMAR, Amrit, GUPTA, Puneet, MALHOTRA, Lakshya
• Granted Patent: US 8,649,298 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method for creating a virtual Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is disclosed. The method includes extracting one or more niceties of a physical WSN and embedding at least one of the extracted niceties in a soft object to represent one or more sensor nodes of the physical WSN. The method includes, sending equivalent command to the one or more sensor nodes of the physical WSN, when one or more changes are performed on corresponding niceties of the soft object. Further, the method adding or deleting one or more niceties corresponding to the one or more sensor nodes from the soft object upon ingress or egress of the one or more sensor nodes in the physical WSN. The method also includes steps of building application using the soft object of the virtual WSN.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of creating a virtual Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), the method comprising:

extracting one or more niceties of a physical WSN, wherein extracting the one or more niceties comprises;

determining a communication mode between a plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and a base station;

segregating a plurality of packets exchanged by the plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and the base station;

identifying a source sensor node and a traversed network path of the plurality of segregated packets;

transforming at least one of sensor data and control data from the plurality of segregated packets into a predefined format; and

embedding at least one of the extracted niceties in a soft object to represent one or more sensor nodes of the physical WSN.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communication mode comprises at least one of serial communication, USB communication, Ethernet communication and wireless communication.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising translating details of the determined communication mode into details of a predetermined communication mode.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein segregating the plurality of packets comprises segregating at least one of a data packet(s) and a non-data packet(s).

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the data packets include the sensor data exchanged between the plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and the base station.

6. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the non-data packets include the control data exchanged between the plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and the base station.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the traversed network path of the plurality of segregated packets is an optimal path comprising at least one intermediate sensor node.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the traversed network path of the plurality of segregated packets is an optimal path comprising direct communication to the base station.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the soft object is in at least one of an XML format, a common separated value (csv) format, and a java object format.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising visualizing the soft object of the virtual WSN using a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing the soft object comprising the embedded niceties in a database.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising performing at least one update on the soft object by a developer.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein an equivalent command, is generated based on update performed on the soft object.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising adding corresponding niceties in the soft object when one or more new sensor nodes are added in the physical WSN.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising deleting corresponding niceties in the soft object when one or more existing sensor nodes are deleted in the physical WSN.

16. A computer implemented method of building an application using a virtual Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of sensor nodes of a physical WSN embedded in the form of a soft object for creating the application;

obtaining access to one or more niceties of the plurality of identified sensor nodes embedded in the soft object through a Graphical User Interface (GUI);

updating the one or more niceties of the plurality of identified sensor nodes in the soft object to obtain a desired functionality of the application; and

deploying changes on a corresponding sensor node in the physical WSN by transferring the update performed on the identified sensor nodes in the soft object to build the desired application.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the step of deploying changes on the corresponding sensor node in the physical WSN in preceded by the step of generating an equivalent command to update the desired functionality of the application in the physical WSN.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the soft object is in at least one of an XML format, a common separated value (csv) format, and a java object format.

19. A system for creating a virtual Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) corresponding to a physical WSN, the system comprising:

an extraction module configured for recording one or more niceties of the physical WSN, wherein the extraction module comprises;

an abstraction module for determining a mode of communication between a plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and a base station;

a filtering module for segregating a plurality of packets exchanged between the physical WSN and the base station;

an interpretation module for identifying a source sensor node and a traversed network path of a plurality of segregated packets;

a conversion module for transforming at least one of sensor data and control data from the plurality of filtered packets into a predefined format; and

an embedding module configured for creating a soft object by using at least one of the recorded niceties to represent one or more sensor nodes of the physical WSN.

20. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the communication mode comprises at least one of serial communication, USB communication and Ethernet communication.

21. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the filtering module identifies at least one of a platform and an operating system of the base station before segregating the plurality of packets.

22. The system as recited in claim 19, further comprising a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to allow one or more developers to at least visualize the soft object and build an application using the soft object.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the GUI comprises an Application Programming Interface (API) for updating a plurality of niceties of the soft object for building the application.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the API is at least one of a web service and a Java API.

25. The system as recited in claim 19, further comprising a commond prompt to allow one or more developers for updating a plurality of niceties of the soft object and build an application using the soft object.

26. The system as recited in claim 19, further comprising a reverse communication module for deploying an update performed on the soft object to the physical WSN through the abstraction module.

27. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for creating a virtual Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), the computer program product comprising:

a program code adapted for;

extracting one or more niceties of a physical WSN, wherein extracting the one or more niceties comprises;

determining a communication mode between a plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and a base station;

segregating a plurality of packets exchanged by the plurality of sensor nodes of the physical WSN and the base station;

identifying a source sensor node and a traversed network path of the plurality of segregated packets;

transforming at least one of sensor data and control data from the plurality of segregated packets into a predefined format; and

embedding at least one of the extracted niceties in a soft object to represent one or more sensor nodes of the physical WSN.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for building an application using a virtual Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), the computer program product comprising:

a program code adapted for;

identifying a plurality of sensor nodes of a physical WSN embedded in the form of a soft object for creating the application;

obtaining access to one or more niceties of the plurality of identified sensor nodes embedded in the soft object through a Graphical User Interface (GUI);

updating the one or more niceties of the plurality of identified sensor nodes in the soft object to obtain a desired functionality of the application; and

deploying changes on a corresponding sensor node in the physical WSN by transferring the update performed on the identified sensor nodes in the soft object to build the desired application.