Towards a Multiagent-Based Software Architecture for Sensor Networks

Sensor-based systems exhibit inherent complexity causing high demands on the underlying software system. In this paper we propose a software architecture that is adjusted to the special needs of sensor networks. Our approach introduces Intelligent Event Processing Agents (iEPAs) that combine Complex Event Processing (CEP) and Multiagent Systems (MAS). Each iEPA applies CEP for processing high volumes of sensor data in real-time, and uses multiagent technology to deal with the highly distributed and dynamically changing topology of sensor networks. The iEPAs are the building blocks for a proposed reference architecture that defines archetypal agents providing general tasks for managing and controlling sensor networks.