Efficient and Flexible XML-Based Data-Exchange in Microcontroller-Based Sensor Actor Networks

Abstract

One of the critical challenges in embedded sensor actor networks is the communication between the diversity of widespread nodes. XML-based message formats are already widely adopted in other IT domains such as the Web and would be perfectly suited for data exchange in heterogeneous environments. Despite all its strengths, the common markup language cannot be adopted on small embedded devices with limited resources due to its verbosity and associated processing overhead. The paper describes an innovative source code generation technique by means of W3C's Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) format that enables the efficient usage of XML-based messages on small devices with limited resources. The outcome is an EXI Processor that allows an end-to-end XML-based communication between systems ranging from powerful workstations to microcontroller-based systems. Particularly, the paper emphasizes the flexibility with regard to alter an exchange format and its minimal adaption efforts due to the generated EXI Processor. An example application proves the applicability of the proposed approach and demonstrates a real life show-case for XML-based Web service communication on microcontroller-based devices.