Trigger-Action Computing in Local Broadcast Beaconing Networks.

Computational elements---often in the form of microcontrollers---are increasingly embedded in and controlling the appliances that we use and the environments in which we live. In typical deployments a set of these elements, connected by an infrastructure network, comprises a distributed system under a cloud or edge based control. This introduces a number of inefficiencies: 1) cloud servers and edge gateways are points of indirection that increase latencies over direct interactions, 2) infrastructure networks incur monetary costs for the equipment, as well as energy and complexity costs, and 3) the resulting systems tend to be centralized and siloed, reducing their ability to interact, interoperate and share resources. As one possible way to solve these problems, we propose and evaluate a system integrating the trigger-action model of computing and highly constrained local broadcast beaconing based networking (e.g., Bluetooth LE, LoRa, VLC). The system requires no gateways or servers, minimizes inter-device latencies, and enables dynamic instantiation of local services by orchestrating nearby devices via trigger-action programs.