Computer Science

Colloquium Details

Language-enabled Integration of Distributed Complex Event Processing Systems and Sensor Networks

Abstract

In the current era of “Big Data”, distributed complex event processing is the prevailing approach to analyzing streams of raw data in real time. The sheer volume of raw data events demands that aggregation operations take place as close as possible to the sources of raw data. Many such sources are constrained, wireless sensor nodes (such as constitute the Internet of Things); increasingly, smart phones are also providing socially-related streams of raw data. Traditional complex event processing technologies, based upon stream database management systems or publish/subscribe systems, are adept at handling many demands for complex event processing. A growing number of hybrid complex event detection scenarios require features of both technologies. Previous work in my group [1] has focused on a unification of publish/subscribe and stream database concepts to tackle all complex event processing scenarios, with particular emphasis upon hybrid scenarios. Fundamental to this unification is an automaton programming language for specifying aggregation operations and an asymmetric publish/subscribe broker architecture for aggregating at different levels of abstraction. This architecture enables runtime composition of ensembles of automata, an essential feature for an open, distributed complex event processing platform. It also enables the placement of aggregation operations into the infrastructure. Wireless sensor nodes are typically programmed using event-based programming paradigms, such as in TinyOS or Contiki. It is common for the sensor node programmer to NOT be a computer scientist; event-based programming makes it difficult for such a programmer to concentrate on the scientific use to which they wish to apply the sensor node. Other work in my group [2] has focused on the development of an actor-based programming language (Insense) and custom operating system to enable the programmer to use more normal programming styles while performing at or better than the event-based systems. In this talk, I will describe our efforts to integrate these two language-based systems to incorporate constrained sensors and smart phones into the complex event processing system of [1]. Due to activities on a number of fronts, I will not go into any particular activity in depth, instead attempting to characterize and justify the breadth of activities. [1] J Sventek, A Koliousis, “Unification of publish/subscribe systems and stream databases: the impact on complex event processing”, Proceedings of the 13th International Middleware Conference, 292-311. [2] P Harvey, A Dearle, J Lewis, J Sventek, “Channel and active component abstractions for WSN programming - a language model with operating system support”, Proceedings of SensorNets 2012, 24-26 Feb 2012, Rome, Italy.

Biography

Joe Sventek is the Professor of Communication Systems and Head of School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His research interests include programmable networks, embedded systems, environmental sensor networks, complex event processing, closed-loop network management, and distributed system architectures. Prior to joining Glasgow, he had a research career (as a distinguished engineer and research fellow) at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (1979-1986), Hewlett-Packard (1987-1999), and Agilent Technologies (1999-2002). Professor Sventek was the principal author of the original OMG CORBA specification as well as several of the Common Object Services (Trading, Events, Naming). He has been the general chair for TINA99, Middleware 2001 and Middleware 2006, programme chair for COOTS98, TINA99, Middleware 2000, and DEBS 2010, and a member of programme committees too numerous to mention. He is an advisor to the Wiley Series in Communications Networking and Distributed Systems, and is the current chair of the UK Computing Research Committee. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and the British Computer Society, and is a senior member of the IEEE.