The integration of sensor cloud technology has emerged as a revolutionary force across numerous sectors in the ever-evolving field of intelligent technologies. Born out of the confluence of cloud-based technologies with internet of things (IoT), sensor clouds provide a flexible and scalable framework for a variety of applications, including environmental monitoring, healthcare, and agriculture. This chapter aims to provide a thorough examination of sensor cloud technology, elucidating its potential, drawbacks, and many applications. It delves into the complexities of IoT sensor data and highlights the vital significance that effective processing methods play. In managing the complexity and variety inherent in IoT sensor data, it emphasises the value of techniques like data fusion, denoising, data aggregation, etc. The specifics of certain sensor cloud applications, including iDigi, Xively, Nimbits, ThingSpeak, and healthcare monitoring systems are then explored. The chapter ends by emphasizing how innovation and technological advancements are essential to overcoming these obstacles.
TopIntroduction
Sensors are essential to today's technological environment because they are able to recognise and react to changes in the chemical or physical composition of their environment. These gadgets, which can detect the presence of certain compounds or monitor temperature, are used in a variety of fields, including medical monitoring and industrial automation. Sensor networks, made up of nodes positioned strategically, operate together in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to monitor and analyse the environment as a whole (Raghavendra et al., 2006).
These sensors produce large amounts of data, which present management and storage issues. One way to effectively manage and analyse the large amount of sensor data is via cloud storage. Distributed computing is embodied in cloud computing, which provides on-demand services such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS) (Dwivedi & Kumar, 2018).
The Sensor-Cloud architecture is a new development in sensor technology that is a modified kind of cloud computing designed to manage sensors in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) (Raghavendra et al., 2006), (Akyildiz & Vuran, 2010). This architecture leverages the cloud's enormous processing and storage capacity to link WSNs to it in an easy-to-use manner via sensor and cloud gateways. Significant amounts of data are produced by sensor nodes, and they are effectively handled via compression and cloud transfer. The flow of data transfer if shown in Figure 1. This data is then decompressed and stored in the cloud, which provides a strong foundation for analysis and storage.
Figure 1. IoT integrated with cloud
The notion of supplying end users with virtualized sensors on demand and integrating them with their IT resources or systems is presented by the Sensor-Cloud infrastructure concept (Ullah et al., 2019). IT resources, including CPUs, storage, and sensor-capable devices, must be ready and operational for the creation of service instances inside this architecture. Through the Sensor-Cloud, users can effortlessly request and manage service instances, guaranteeing cost-effectiveness by removing fees for wasted resources.
This chapter examines how sensor cloud technology is integrated, demonstrating how it may revolutionise a variety of sectors, including environmental monitoring, healthcare, and agriculture. The sensor cloud architecture, which offers a flexible and scalable environment for advanced data collecting, real-time processing, and analysis from various sensor devices and networks, is the result of the convergence of IoT and cloud-based technologies. Examining the intricacy and variety of IoT sensor data, the chapter highlights effective processing techniques and covers a range of sensor cloud applications, emphasising both advantages and disadvantages. sensor cloud technology is resilient and scalable, but it also has drawbacks, including storage capacity constraints, bandwidth limits, security issues, and the need for efficient management. The need of innovation is emphasised in the chapter's conclusion in order to fully realise the promise of sensor cloud technology and open the door to a more trustworthy, data-driven, and intelligent global ecosystem.