摘要：In a sensor network, sensor data are usually forwarded from sensor nodes to a database. This tight coupling between the nodes and the database has been complicating user-centric applications that traverse multiple different sensor networks. To break this coupling, thus enabling user-centric applications, we propose a three-tier architecture for ubiquitous networked sensing. Its major feature is that it contains the “core” device, which is assumed to be a terminal held by users between sensor nodes and sensor databases. This architecture supports the sensor data directly transmitted to and consumed by the core device, in addition to the classic ones that are transmitted to the sensor database first, and downloaded to the core. The major contribution of this paper are the following three-fold. First, we clarify the architecture itself. Researchers can leverage the architecture as the baseline of their development. Second, we show two types of prototype implementations of the core device. Industry is allowed to develop a new product for practical use of ambient sensing. Finally, we show a range of applications that are enabled by the architecture and indicate issues that need to be addressed for further investigation.
