A Case Study for Workflow-Based Automation in the Internet of Things

Abstract

The application of workflow technologies in the context of Internet of Things (IoT) presents a young and vibrant research field. Introducing a dedicated workflow layer on top of typical software architectures to model and execute repetitive tasks among IoT devices, systems and services facilitates the flexibility, reuse, configuration and programming of processes in the IoT. In this work we present the PROtEUS IoT workflow management system (WfMS) and its application for automating typical processes in a Smart Home case study.We conduct various experiments to show the system’s capabilities and suitability to be used as an IoT WfMS interacting with sensors, actuators, robots, humans and smart objects. PROtEUS integrates components for dynamic service selection, complex event processing, human interactions and self-adaptation, which makes it a WfMS able to cope with new IoT-related challenges.