Enabling collaboration and coordination of wireless sensor networks via social networks

The Internet of Things is envisaged to deliver constant information flow from the physical objects in our world and make the sensory information about our environment available online. This paper presents the on-going work to integrate the physical world with the largely available Internet infrastructure by a model that interconnect wireless sensor networks with social networks. The paper provides a design and framework for employing social networks to facilitate the collaboration and coordination of distributed sensor networks. Seamlessly exchanging sensory measurements amongst geographically dispersed sensor networks is anticipated to enhance our capability to capture the status of the physical world and to realise a smart environment once sensory information is delivered to various machineries in the world. Additionally, sensor networks may utilise social networks for distributing the sensing responsibilities amongst sensor networks, and as a result prolonging the lifetime of the networks whilst maintaining constant monitoring and detection of the environment.