Everyone is talking about the SensorWeb, but what is this all about and where is the relation to Geoinformatics?
Wikipedia defines the sensorweb as follows:
The Sensor Web is a type of sensor network or geographic information system (GIS) that is especially well suited for environmental monitoring and control. The term describes a specific type of sensor network: an amorphous network of spatially distributed sensor platforms (pods) that wirelessly communicate with each other. This amorphous architecture is unique since it is both synchronous and router-free, making it distinct from the more typical TCP/IP-like network schemes. The architecture allows every pod to know what is going on with every other pod throughout the Sensor Web at each measurement cycle.
The basic concept of a network of sensors is not new. The novelty of the Sensor Web architecture lies in the ability of the individual pieces to act and coordinate as a whole. This immediately allows the system to be synchronous throughout, unlike many other networks. In addition, the individual pods of a Sensor Web are all equal with one another and a Sensor Web architecture does not require special gateways or routing to have each of the individual pieces communicate with one another or an end user. By definition, a Sensor Web is an autonomous, stand-alone, sensing entity that does not require the presence of the World Wide Web to function.
The term “Sensor Web” is sometimes used to refer to sensors connected to the Internet (or “World Wide Web”). Such terms are occasionally used in conjunction with projects of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) or SensorNet. In this case, the network architecture requires the Internet to link together the individual sensing elements. The OGC architecture is very different than that of a true Sensor Web system and requires schemes to bring together vastly different datasets, in the same way that TCP/IP is used to tie together vastly different pieces of hardware and computing platforms. Note also that a single Sensor Web may be an individual sensing element inputing into an OGC-type network.
Some further readings:
- The OGC(R) Releases Sensor Web Enablement White Paper by Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
- OGC Demonstrates Sensor Web Decision Support Services by Sam Bacharach, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
- The Sensor Web’s Point of Beginning by Mark Reichardt, executive director of OGC’s ( http://www.opengis.org) outreach and community adoption program.
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
