SENSORS: Theory and Practice of Sensor Network Architectures

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

Populating our world with networks of sensors requires fundamental understanding of tech- niques for connecting and managing sensor nodes with a communication network in scalable and resource-e .cient ways.The proposed research involves a comprehensive program of sensor network architecture,design,evaluation,and implementation that integrates research expertise in the areas of wireless networking and multiuser communications and provides numerous op- portunities for enhancing student research and education in the area of sensor networks,at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The dominant trend in sensor network practice is to consider a dense collection of tiny sensor nodes with limited computation and communication capabilities,all connected via a .at,or ad hoc,wireless network.Yet theoretical studies in multiuser communications suggest that substantially improved performance can be obtained through sophisticated coordination among nodes,requiring more versatile radios,hierarchy,and perhaps even sparse wired connectivity. Thus,the objectives of the proposed research are to:1)identify network architectures that permit the implementation of sophisticated transmission schemes that have been theoretically studied,2)analyze such schemes in the context of sensor networks and design new ones adopting a cross-layer approach and 3)implement these schemes and verify their behavior on a real testbed. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the improved understanding of an important emerging class of wireless networks,and in the attempt to unite theory and practice.Clos- ing the widening gap between theoretically proposed strategies and practically implemented ones is crucial to understanding and improving the performance and lifetime of these resource- constrained networks.Through a rigorous analytic approach,contributions to the emerging area of network information theory are expected,leading to substantial advances in energy-e .cient and delay-constrained protocol design. The broader impact is manifested in part through an e .ort to integrate teaching and research. Experimentation on a hardware platform plays an integral role in both research and education. It will be used for veri .cation,as well as for undergraduate and graduate projects that provide students with hands-on experience in a real sensor network testbed.This project will enable the acquisition of the necessary hardware.Two newly developed graduate courses on multiuser communications and wireless networking will bene .t greatly from this project.It is anticipated that by such close linking,research and education cross-fertilize each other within the framework of this proposal.Further,since the proposed architectures and related issues carry over to other important classes of networks,the .ndings from this research will have an impact on a much broader class of wireless networks,including multihop cellular networks,that may soon become signi .cant for a major part of our society.The broader impact will also be felt through a broad dissemination of results and through current and future interactions with other universities. A-1