I. INTRODUCTION
We envision a future where millions of small sensors,
actuators and other devices form self-organizing wireless
networks. This vision relies heavily on the emerging Internet
of Things paradigm where millions of embedded systems
(machines) are able to communicate with and control each
other, without human intervention. These machines should
seamlessly merge into our daily lives resulting in an
enhancement of our well-being. Various aspects of our lives
will be affected; some of these include:
- Healthcare: wireless body area networks will collect
health data, for example vital signs readings, and
transmit this to healthcare provider. Healthcare
provider computers will automatically process the
data and request ambulance to be sent to patient’s
address.
- Emergency response: wireless sensor networks will
collect data about the status of buildings, bridges and
highways. Emergency personnel will be notified if
the data collected implies collapsing bridge, collision
on highway etc.
- Supply Chain and inventory management: raw
material can be tracked from source to retail store in
an automated manner. Sensors can determine when
raw material is low and communicate to other
machines to initiate the supply of more raw
materials. This could also take place with little to no
human intervention.
Currently, there is no universal platform that facilitates
smooth communication for M2M communication via the
internet. We attempt to address this lack through proposing a
model for network convergence. Our model provides a
wireless platform for the convergence of wireless sensor
networks and LTE-A cellular networks. We believe that this
can provide a cost effective and pragmatic solution for M2M
communication. Our main contribution is to propose a novel
dual gateway interface for sensor networks and Long Term
Evolution advanced (LTE-A) network.