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Unleashing the potential of the Internet of Things 3

A USN service is a type of service that uses various sensors and/or actuators. In the USN services
framework, communications take place between USN applications and sensor networks directly or
via some intermediate entity.

Some USN applications and services use basic data processing to obtain the necessary data and
others may use advanced data processing such as data mining, context-aware processing, and event
processing. In addition, authentication of sensor network and confidentiality of sensed data are very
important to protect the USN services from fraudulent data.

The functions of various USN applications and services can be summarized as follows:
– finding appropriate sensor networks to obtain sensed data;
– requesting raw sensed data and/or processed data;
– processing received sensed data;

– activating actuators;
– monitoring sensor network status;
– controlling sensor networks;
– authenticating sensor networks;
– providing appropriate services to users.

These functions are commonly required by many types of USN applications and services.
Concerning complexity, scalability and cost-effectiveness, it would be beneficial to support
functions by a separate entity rather than by each USN application and service.

6.2 Description of USN middleware
USN middleware is an intermediate entity that provides functions commonly required by different
types of USN applications and services. USN middleware receives requests from USN applications
and delivers those requests to appropriate sensor networks. Similarly, USN middleware receives
sensed data or processed data from sensor networks and delivers them to appropriate USN
applications. USN middleware can provide information processing functions such as query
processing, context-aware processing, event processing, sensor network monitoring and so on.

6.3 Use cases of USN services
USN services use only sensor nodes or both sensor nodes and RFID readers. In some cases, USN
services can activate actuators after processing the sensed data. Some other USN services monitor
and/or control sensor networks.
USN services can be categorized into three groups, based on the above observations:

– using only sensed data including RFID tag data (e.g., healthcare applications);
– activating one or more actuators, based on the sensed data, including RFID tag data (e.g.,
cold chain management applications);

– monitoring and/or controlling sensor networks, including RFID readers (e.g., sensor
network monitoring applications).

Use cases in this Recommendation show how USN services and USN middleware work together.

Rec. ITU-T Y.4104/F.744 (12/2009) 151