Gatewaying the Wireless Sensor Networks

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT), bridging wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and other networks has become important. We divide bridging solutions into two categories: hardware solutions and middleware solutions. Hardware solutions have both low power short distance wireless interfaces and other types of transmission interfaces, e.g. GPRS, 3G/4G, via hardware implementations. This kind of solutions is more stable and more applicable for deployed sensor networks. In middleware solutions, the whole system processes appropriate protocol conversion. This kind of solutions is more independent of hardware, making it easier to be reused in different networks. This paper briefly presents key points of each solution and evaluates advantages and disadvantages of them in terms of different criteria. Eventually, we derive the most appropriate situation for each solution from our comparisons and discussions.