Title: A fuzzy control framework for wireless sensor networks

Authors: Ke Deng; Bradford G. Nickerson

Addresses: Aversan Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada ' Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada

Abstract: We present a novel framework that can be used to dynamically control the operation of sensors embedded in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Fuzzy logic incorporating temporal reasoning is used as the basis of our framework, permitting WSNs to automatically adapt to their changing environment. This makes WSNs more responsive and potentially more energy efficient. A fuzzy rule based, object-oriented programming language for WSNs called fuzzy Sensor Web Language (fuzzy SWL) is implemented as the front end of our framework. A proof-of-concept field test with two rules incorporating air temperature, rainfall, and water level demonstrates the feasibility of our fuzzy control approach for environmental monitoring. A novel aspect of this research is the addition of time factors in fuzzy rules. Time factors permit the fuzzy control system to effectively adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Keywords: responsiveness; environmental monitoring; adaptive sampling; field tests; sensor activation; energy efficiency; temporal reasoning; fuzzy control; wireless sensor networks; WSNs; fuzzy logic; object-oriented programming; OOP; air temperature; rainfall; water level.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2013.052732

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2013 Vol.13 No.1, pp.1 - 12

Published online: 19 Mar 2013 *

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