10042 Executive Summary – Semantic Challenges in Sensor Networks

There has been significant progress in the number and capabilities of mobile devices, wireless sensors, and sensor networks. These developments, combined with the improved ability to bridge between the physical and cyber world in a more seamless way, have fostered the broad availability of sensor data capturing the state of the physical world. Promising and already successful examples are applications in environmental monitoring, agriculture, surveillance and intrusion detection, public security, and supply chain management. Furthermore, ideas towards a Web of sensors have been proposed, which is to be understood as a (large scale) network of spatially distributed sensors. In particular, terms like "Internet of Things", "Collaborating Objects" and "Ambient Intelligence" emphasize the trend towards a tighter connection between the cyber space and the physical world.