An SLA-Based Approach to Manage Sensor Networks as-a-Service

The integration of sensing infrastructures into the Cloud gives a number of advantages in providing sensor data as a service over the Internet. Many solutions are now available in the literature, and most of them focus on modeling sensor networks as part of the infrastructure to be offered as a service (IaaS), directly managed by means of the Cloud tools that provide resource virtualization. We propose a different approach: sensor networks are modeled as providers that offer their resources to a Cloud application that runs independently from Cloud providers. Being offered as a Service, any user can negotiate with the provider his desired requirements in terms of operational parameters and non-functional features (i.e. security, dependability, etc). In particular, we propose a SLA-based approach for the specification and management of usage term guarantees related to the access and configuration of private sensor networks. To this end, a Cloud Sensing Brokering Platform is designed to illustrate the innovative way to integrate Cloud and Sensor Networks.