Potential of information-centric wireless sensor and actor networking

In this article, we introduce the application field, challenges, and concept of information-centric networking (ICN) approach as a fundamental driver for wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs). The similar concepts of Internet-based ICN are explored in WSAN, but we introduce a new scheme and purpose which are totally different from Internet-ICN. The exploration introduces new capabilities of the ICN approach for WSANs: efficient coordination, interoperability, service discovery, and prioritized routing. This exploration establishes a potential foundation to improve performance of WSANs while opening new avenues for future research in the information-centric Internet of Things.