Integrated Sensing: Communication Protocols and Testbed Development for Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

022597 Sivakumar The convergence of micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, wireless communications and digital electronics have enabled the development of low cost, low power, multi-functional sensor nodes that are small in size and communicate un-tethered in short distances. They can perform tasks, which traditional stand along sensors are hard to match. Although sensor networks have some similarities with another class of wireless networks called ad-hoc networks, they have several distinguishing characteristics that necessitate dedicated communication protocols. The PIs overall objective in the proposed project is to develop a system architecture, which includes new protocol entities and interfaces. Their focus will be on the integration of the proposed algorithms into an efficient overall system. While they propose to develop new algorithms and protocols for the transport and network layers, specifically, their deliverables will include: (a) a new transport protocol called SNTP (Sensor-Nets Transport Protocol) that is designed specifically for a sensor network environment, and (b) a power aware and scalable routing protocol that allow an end-user to control the sensors and reconfigure the interconnection of the sensor network. The PIs will evaluate their proposed protocols in a ns2 network simulator based simulation environment, and make available for public use any protocol simulation software. Since the ns2 simulator currently does not extensively support the simulation of sensor network environments, they will also develop such support and make it available for public use.