Remote Monitoring Architectures: A Part of the Frontier

This paper presents a taxonomy, in the form of an abstract model, of the set of remote monitoring architectures, such as those used for international agreements, treaties, or the monitoring of hazardous materials. The model consists of three parts: a sensor, an optional server, and a user, with communication lines connecting sensor and server and connecting server and user. (If the server is not present, then the communication line connects the sensor and user directly.) We refine the three parts to include different user populations, data sensitivity, and secure services. We complete the model by allowing data between the parts to be either pulled or pushed. This results in six basic partitions, each of which has a number of sub-partitions. For several sample architectures we show how they fit into the taxonomy. The importance of the taxonomy is that it provides a systematic method of understanding these architectures which we believe are on the forefront of technology. We anticipate that solutions generated by these architectures will become commonplace in the future. For example, a customary requirement for these architectures is that the adversary be a legitimate user.