BeeTS: Smart Distributed Sensor Tuple Spaces combined with Agents using Bluetooth and IP Broadcasting

TL;DR

BeeTS introduces a novel Bluetooth-based tuple space system enabling ad-hoc, spatially-aware communication among IoT devices without relying on continuous internet connectivity, suitable for power-constrained environments.

Contribution

The paper presents BeeTS, a new Bluetooth Low Energy tuple space system that supports connectionless, opportunistic, and spatially-aware device communication using simple agents.

Findings

Enables ad-hoc communication via Bluetooth broadcasting.

Supports spatial context through tuple spaces and agents.

Allows wider range access via UDP-based intranet communication.

Abstract

Most Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and smart sensors are connected via the Internet using IP communication driectly accessed by a server that collect sensor information periodically or event-based. Although, Internet access is widely available, there are places that are not covered and WLAN and mobile cell communication requires a descent amount of power not always available. Finally, the spatial context (the environment in which the sensor or devices is situated) is not considered (or lost) by Internet connectivity. In this work, smart devices communicate connectionless and ad-hoc by using low-energy Bluetooth broadcasting available in any smartphone and in most embedded computers, e.g., the Raspberry PI devices. Bi-directional connectionless communication is established via the advertisements and scanning modes. The communication nodes can exchange data via functional tuples using a tuple space service on each node. Tuple space access is performed by simple evenat-based agents. Mobile devices act as tuple carriers that can carry tuples between different locations. Additionally, UDP-based Intranet communication can be used to access tuple spaces on a wider spatial range. The Bluetooth Low Energy Tuple Space (BeeTS) service enables opportunistic, ad-hoc and loosely coupled device communication with a spatial context.