IoT-Enabled Smart Environments: A Daoist-Inspired Approach to Adaptive Sensor Networks.

Abstract

Smart environments are composed of sensors and actuators as well as of communication networks and of intelligent control systems. They monitor a physical as well as a human environment in detail and, on this basis, they react in a flexible manner. The use of smart environments is already becoming a matter of course in smart homes, in the monitoring of patients, in industrial automation as well as in environmental sensors and in smart cities and communities. However, in most cases, the design of sensor networks still remains static. In this context, the classical challenges of energy efficiency, scalability, self-organization, as well as adaptability are not yet fully satisfied. Typically, sensor networks have a fixed observation structure and a centralized decision-making process. They often generate a high amount of data that is transmitted in an uncontrollable manner. Furthermore, the sensor networks are often not sufficiently sensitive to the context. This paper proposes a novel approach to designing adaptive sensor networks for IoT-enabled smart environments by applying key Daoist principles, namely wu wei, yin-yang, harmony with nature, simplicity and natural flow to design sensor networks in a novel and creative way. Instead of using traditional sensor networks that are dependent on rigid control structures to achieve their goals, the proposed approach adopts a fully decentralized approach whereby, using the principles of balance and natural flow, nodes operate in a manner that results in minimal intervention and, using fully distributed balancing of resources, sensor nodes operate in a fully adaptive manner to alter their modes of operation in order to respond to changes in the environment, to reduce activity when the environment is not changing, to ensure that all nodes in. the environment are operating in a manner that results in a balance of load and, where appropriate, to cooperate with other nodes in order to achieve an overall sense of efficient operation of sensors and other components in the smart environment..