The most representative form of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) involves wireless sensor networks (WSNs) as the main means to interact with physical entities. This chapter reviews a number of such WSN-CPS applications and reveals how these applications bridge the gap between sensing information in the cyber world and diverse entities in the physical world. We divide these applications into five categories: smart space systems, healthcare systems, emergency response systems, human activity inference, and smart city systems. Smart space systems monitor energy usage, temperature, and various other attributes of appliances in an indoor space. Healthcare systems assist people to improve physical and emotional well-being through automatic sensing and sense-making technologies. Emergency response systems search for and rescue people as soon as possible in emergency situations such as fire outbreaks. Human activity inference systems interpret human intention behind sensing information to facilitate human daily activities related to social events, road safety, mood detection, interactive games, etc. Smart city systems concentrate on city dynamics such as urban environmental monitoring, human mobility, and transport information. Our discussion in this chapter is steered from simple to complex systems in terms of networking technologies, service ranges, system integration, and human engagement. We conclude by discussing important technical components, future trends, and open issues in WSN-CPS applications in order to provide readers with technical pointers for designing next-generation WSN-CPS applications.

Chapter Contents:

• 12.1 Introduction
• 12.2 Smart space systems
• 12.2.1 Fixture monitoring systems
• 12.2.2 Energy-efficient smart buildings
• 12.2.2.1 Occupancy-based HVAC systems
• 12.2.3 Preference-based smart home
• 12.2.2.2 Comfort-based HVAC systems
• 12.3 Healthcare systems
• 12.3.1 Sensor-assisted sleep- facilitating systems
• 12.3.2 Body motion monitoring
• 12.4 Emergency response systems
• 12.4.1 Emergency evacuation systems
• 12.4.2 Search and rescue systems
• 12.5 Human activity inference
• 12.5.1 Conversation behavior analyzer
• 12.5.2 Mood detection
• 12.5.3 Road safety helpers
• 12.5.4 Social activity inference
• 12.5.4.1 Group social intention
• 12.5.4.2 Device pairing intention
• 12.5.5 Virtual-physical games
• 12.6 Smart city systems
• 12.6.1 Urban-scale monitoring
• 12.6.1.1 Noise monitoring
• 12.6.1.2 Air quality monitoring
• 12.6.1.3 Network quality assessment
• 12.6.2 Urban mobility and activity diaries
• 12.6.2.1 Transportation diaries
• 12.6.2.2 Everyday life diaries
• 12.6.3 Intelligent transportation systems
• 12.6.3.1 Taxi/passenger finder
• 12.6.3.2 Carpooling services
• 12.6.3.3 Traffic monitoring and navigation
• 12.6.3.4 Parking finder
• 12.7 Conclusion: discussion, comparison, and future challenges
• 12.7.1 Discussion and comparison
• 12.7.2 Opportunities and challenges beyond
• 12.7.2.1 Cross-domain intelligence for urban Internet of Things
• 12.7.2.2 Software-defined networking for future Internet
• 12.7.2.3 Machine-to-machine communication issues
• References

Inspec keywords: emergency management; wireless sensor networks; cyber-physical systems; health care

Other keywords: smart space systems; system integration; wireless sensor networks; cyber-physical systems; human engagement; service ranges; networking technologies; emergency response systems; human activity inference; healthcare systems; WSN-CPS applications; automatic sensing; smart city systems; sense-making technologies

Subjects: Wireless sensor networks