Standards are something we don't see much in robotics. The Open GIS Consortium has issued a working draft specification for an XML-based sensor markup language called SensorML (PDF format). The goal is to provide a consistent XML schema for defining the geometric, dynamic, and observational characteristics of a sensor. SensorML was used as part of an test project that simulated emergency situations for the Department of Homeland Security in which UAVs were dispatched and monitored using web services.