Modular Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network Nodes with Plug-and-Play Module Connection

In the paper we introduce the new concept of the modular Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (WSAN) Nodes with Plug-and-Play (P&P)module connection capability. Unlike the state-of-the-art solutions, our platform features modularity in both hardware and software domains, and supports automatic discovery and identification of the modules, which combined, enable automatic P&P modules identification and take in use. According to our vision, the new generation of the WSAN nodes might be built by stacking together the hardware P&P modules encapsulating various power supply sources, processing units, wired and wireless transceivers, sensors and actuators, peripheral devices or the sets of those. Once a node is assembled, the processing unit of the node identifies all attached modules, and downloads the necessary software drivers for working with those and the applications out of the network. In the paper, we introduce the concept, discuss the related challenges, present our hardware architecture solution, and report the first results on the implementation of the hardware testbed platform.