Odysseus

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are envisioned as networks of ubiqutious devices sensing the world with levels of detail not feasible previously. This vision is particulary attractive to areas such us microclimate research, habitat monitoring, and precision agriculture.

However, development of new WSNs protocols and applications is a challanging task. Low-level progamming, complex interactions, and limited debugging capabilities impact every sensor network
deployment. Therefore, it is important to have insights into the network state during its operation. Very often it is achieved by deploying a support network which allows for WSN monitoring.

The aim of the project is design and implement a control framework for the deployment support network. The project will use an indoor deployment currently operating in UCD CASL. The
deployment consists of 20 TelosB motes connected to a wireless deployment support network. The framework will consist of a Web based interface and a stand-alone java deamons. It will allow for
network monitoring (motes health, link quality, debug logs) and control (control of motes parameters, remote code deployment).

The project will give a chance to practise Web application development and work with WSN hardware.

Outcome:
A functional Web application with monitoring & control capabilities. Possibly an open-source package could be released.

Requirements:
The student should have excellent analytical programming skills with a good knowledge of Java, Javascript, and AJAX programming techniques in general. Some C/nesC development may be required. Knowledge of SQL and DBMS is a plus.

Relevant publications:
Philipp Hurni, Gerald Wagenknecht, Markus Anwander, Torsten Braun: A Testbed Management Architecture for Wireless Sensor Network Testbeds (TARWIS), 7th European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSN), Coimbra, Portugal 2010
M. Dyer, J. Beutel, L. Thiele, T. Kalt, P. Oehen, K. Martin and P. Blum: Deployment Support Network - A Toolkit for the Development of WSNs. Proc. 4th European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSN 2007), Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 4373, Springer, Berlin, pages 195-211, January, 2007
R. Jurdak, A. G. Ruzzelli, A. Barbirato, and S. Boivineau. "Octopus: Modular Visualization and Control for Sensor Networks," Wiley Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2009(9): 1-21.