CAREER: A Hardware-Software Approach to Enabling In-Situ Visibility and Control in Wireless Embedded Systems

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Reliable operation of wireless embedded systems is a crucial requirement due to their increasing use in a variety of mission-critical application domains. One of the biggest impediments to ensuring reliable operation is the fact that, post deployment, designers have very little visibility and control over (and hence understanding of) the behavior and operational state of remotely deployed embedded systems. This project addresses the above challenge and is based on the premise that, especially for remotely deployed embedded systems, visibility and control cannot be treated as mere afterthoughts, but should be treated as prime considerations throughout the hardware and software design process. In terms of intellectual merit, the project is pursuing two complementary research thrusts: (i) The project is investigating the design of new embedded hardware platforms that feature explicit hardware hooks to provide enhanced visibility and control over the functioning of the platform, and (ii) The project is exploring new embedded software architectures that provide fine-grained remote visibility and control over the execution of embedded software in a lightweight, easy to use, and non-intrusive manner, without disrupting normal software execution on the system. In terms of broader impact, the project has the potential to positively impact the adoption and acceptance of wireless embedded systems in a variety of consumer and mission-critical applications. In addition to enhancing graduate and undergraduate courses on embedded systems at Purdue, results from the project are impacting the broader community through unique programs at Purdue such as the Engineering Projects In Community Service.