Software defined wireless sensor networks management and security challenges: A review

Abstract

Software defined networking (SDN) is a paradigm developed to cope with inherent limitations posed by the lack of flexibility in the traditional networking architecture like the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The application of SDN in WSN has been advantageous with respect to network management and configuration leading to a new network paradigm called SDWSN. Despite the benefits, SDWSN is faced with several challenges dominated by network management, security, and scalability. These have prompted several research activities among industrial and academic researchers worldwide. Though several solutions have been proposed or developed, most of the challenges still exist and more research works are needed to address them. Therefore, this paper presents a review of the challenges of SDWSN in the aspects of network management, security and its application on Internet of Things (IoT). The essence is to comprehend the existing challenges in an effort to find effective and efficient solutions to ensure more secure, dependable and energy efficient SDWSN. We reviewed several literature on WSN, SDN and SDWSN and presented the findings in the form of challenges and solutions. The analysis shows that SDWSN challenges originates from SDN, WSN and the technology is still at its early stage, though is developing.