Computing and Informatics

In this paper we focus on a hardware realization of web services (WS) and their integration within the service-oriented architecture (SOA). Previous approaches to the implementation of network-enabled services in hardware covered only very specific types of applications and were platform-dependent. Our contribution is a generic framework where heterogeneous everyday objects are enhanced with appropriate hardware extensions. This turns them into intelligent electronic devices that can sense the environment as well as interact with it, exposing their functionality via public WS interface. An integration scheme is introduced to allow the augmented objects to be used within highly distributed enterprise applications. Each web service is mapped to a functionally equivalent Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi) service so that it can be dynamically added to the pool of elementary services accessible within the enterprise service bus (ESB). Our approach is exemplified by several web services for environment monitoring, mechanical control and visual inspection, all implemented in a reconfigurable hardware. A case study of integrating and using such services is also presented.