As the refrigerator said to the hi-fi…

Cordis (European commission)

Networked sensors and devices have huge potential but how can we ensure that they can all talk to each other? The answer, according to a European consortium, is to link them seamlessly through a common ‘middleware’.

In these energy conscious times, the old idea of home automation is being revived to give the householder finer control over the many devices in the home. Most proposals envisage devices (embedded systems) – such as the heating, lighting and ventilation systems – being able to communicate with each other in a wireless network.

How can different devices, using different technologies and made by different manufacturers at different times, communicate with one another? One way would be to insist that all devices conform to some agreed standard, but that would be complex and time-consuming to negotiate and would not apply to existing devices. It could also stifle innovation by putting constraints on future technologies not yet imagined.

A much better way has been adopted by the EU-funded Hydra project. “Hydra aims to reduce the complexity by developing a service-oriented middleware,” explains Markus Eisenhauer, the project coordinator, who works at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology. …..

Internet of Things

With Hydra, all manner of devices such as electricity meters, TV sets, refrigerators, stereos as well as heating and lighting systems, can be networked without having to know what goes on inside them. ….

Healthcare at home

But home automation is only one example of what Hydra can do. Another major application is expected to be in healthcare, especially the monitoring of patients in their own homes. The partners have set up a demo using networked sensors measuring body weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and oxygen saturation. A muscle sensor gives warning of an epileptic fit. … ..

DCL: more applications for CEP Report