Embedding Low-Cost Wireless Sensors into Universal Plug and Play Environments

Research on Ubiquitous Computing is conducted in two opposing directions: One focuses on the seamless interaction of high-performance end devices by defining semantic mechanisms for device discovery and control. Ubiquitous computing is however also understood as the massive, unobtrusive integration of small electronic devices, in particular of small sensors and actuators, into our environment. These nodes must be cheap and energy-efficient, but are thus less flexible. In this paper, we present an approach to harmonize these two research directions. Our objective is to integrate small sensors and actuators into one of the most established middleware platforms for distributed semantic services, namely Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). The key is to source out complex data processing from the sensor nodes to dedicated terminals which establish a proxy in the UPnP network. This allows flexible, highly-functional, UPnP compliant devices while concurrently satisfying rigid cost and power requirements.