Improving WSN application QoS and network lifetime management using SOA strategies

Quality of service (QoS) applications and network lifetime management are key challenges in military Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Service-level guarantees that are achievable in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) can ensure reliability, availability and overall usability in any application. SOA can be useful in providing needed capabilities for the military in the traditional needs of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, information, surveillance and reconnaissance (often called C⁴I²SR). Military capabilities such as joint capability, interworking capability, COTS, organization agility, swarming, situational awareness and faster decision making are common applications that can benefit from SOA capabilities and each requires a certain level of quality to be successful. SOA provides the ability to dynamically locate and execute services within a composite function plan to achieve the desired QoS. A composite function plan is a template (blueprint) used to create a composite service. How to create the necessary structure in a military WSN is still a research topic to achieve the required levels of quality of service. We present a strategy that uses dynamic service selection to achieve higher levels in quality of service for WSNs, while preserving network lifetime. The realization of these strategies will be achieved through a SOA middleware layer in the WSN.