New tools that help with (also wireless) mass-
deployment of services as well as with design of
models and business process adaptation for WSN
based infrastructures need to be developed. WSN
networks are expected to be too complex and
therefore abstraction layers and tools to manage
this complexity are needed at several levels.
One new class of tools could analyze business
processes, expressed e.g. in BPEL that make use
of sensor network services and automatically
identify sub-processes that can be processed
autonomously by the WSN. The sensor network
could be augmented with execution capabilities
for efficiently encoded business process descrip-
tions.
The hardware used needs to be reduced in size,
cost and energy consumption, increased in com-
puting power and able to act reliably. This is
expected to be solved in the mid- / long-term.
Both industry and academia should work towards
developing appropriate business models, stan-
dards for several levels in WSNs, and tackle the
security issues. Integration of the semantic web
and a service based infrastructure (as followed by
CoBIs) provide a really promising approach.
The WiSeNts Research roadmap (Marron et al.,
2006) provides an excellent source for a more
general view of the challenges, trends and roadmap
for WSNs.
CONCLUSIONS
We have presented our opinions and experiences
from the design, analysis and realization of a WSN
based service solution for the management of
hazardous goods. We have investigated from the
business perspective focusing on aspects such as
service-oriented architecture, better support for
business processes etc and laid out the motivation
behind our decisions. We have also presented a
business model for WSNs while in parallel we have
provided some directions that from the business
perspective need to be tackled if WSN technology
should transform from a mere toy for scientists to a
powerful tool, enabling real-world business applica-
tions. There is still a long way to go, however initial
efforts are promising and we expect that the whole
area will be radically reshaped within the next years.
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