Interface contracts for TinyOS

ManuscriptTinyOS applications are built with software components that communicate through narrow interfaces. Since components enable fine-grained code reuse, this approach has been successful in creating applications that make very efficient use of the limited code and data memory on sensor network nodes. However, the other important benefit of components-rapid application development through black-box reuse-remains largely unrealized because in many cases interfaces have implied usage constraints that can be the source of frustrating program errors. Developers are commonly forced to read the source code for components, partially defeating the purpose of using components in the first place. Our research helps solve these problems by allowing developers to explicitly specify and enforce component interface contracts. Due to the extensive reuse of the most common interfaces, implementing contracts for a small number of frequently reused interfaces permitted us to extensively check a number of applications. We uncovered some subtle and previously unknown bugs in applications that have been in common use for years

Supporting the Specification and Runtime Validation of Asynchronous Calling Patterns in Reactive Systems

Wireless sensor networks (“sensornets”) are highly distributed and concurrent, with program actions bound to external stimuli. They exemplify a system class known as reactive systems, which comprise execution units that have “hidden” layers of control flow. A key obstacle in enabling reactive system developers to rigorously validate their implementations has been the absence of precise software component specifications and tools to assist in leveraging those specifications at runtime. We address this obstacle in three ways: (i) We describe a specification approach tailored for reactive environments and demonstrate its application in the context of sensornets. (ii) We describe the design and implementation of extensions to the popular nesC tool-chain that enable the expression of these specifications and automate the generation of runtime monitors that signal violations, if any. (iii) Finally, we apply the specification approach to a significant collection of the most commonly used software components in the TinyOS distribution and analyze the overhead involved in monitoring their correctness

Supporting Cyber-Physical Systems with Wireless Sensor Networks: An Outlook of Software and Services

Sensing, communication, computation and control technologies are the essential building blocks of a cyber-physical system (CPS). Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a way to support CPS as they provide fine-grained spatial-temporal sensing, communication and computation at a low premium of cost and power. In this article, we explore the fundamental concepts guiding the design and implementation of WSNs. We report the latest developments in WSN software and services for meeting existing requirements and newer demands; particularly in the areas of: operating system, simulator and emulator, programming abstraction, virtualization, IP-based communication and security, time and location, and network monitoring and management. We also reflect on the ongoing efforts in providing dependable assurances for WSN-driven CPS. Finally, we report on its applicability with a case-study on smart buildings

Extending sensor networks into the cloud using Amazon web services

Sensor networks provide a method of collecting environmental data for use in a variety of distributed applications. However, to date, limited support has been provided for the development of integrated environmental monitoring and modeling applications. Specifically, environmental dynamism makes it difficult to provide computational resources that are sufficient to deal with changing environmental conditions. This paper argues that the Cloud Computing model is a good fit with the dynamic computational requirements of environmental monitoring and modeling. We demonstrate that Amazon EC2 can meet the dynamic computational needs of environmental applications. We also demonstrate that EC2 can be integrated with existing sensor network technologies to offer an end-to-end environmental monitoring and modeling solution

UML-Based co-design framework for body sensor network applications

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Wireless Sensor Network Virtualization: A Survey

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are the key components of the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm. They are now ubiquitous and used in a plurality of application domains. WSNs are still domain specific and usually deployed to support a specific application. However, as WSN nodes are becoming more and more powerful, it is getting more and more pertinent to research how multiple applications could share a very same WSN infrastructure. Virtualization is a technology that can potentially enable this sharing. This paper is a survey on WSN virtualization. It provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art and an in-depth discussion of the research issues. We introduce the basics of WSN virtualization and motivate its pertinence with carefully selected scenarios. Existing works are presented in detail and critically evaluated using a set of requirements derived from the scenarios. The pertinent research projects are also reviewed. Several research issues are also discussed with hints on how they could be tackled.Comment: Accepted for publication on 3rd March 2015 in forthcoming issue of IEEE Communication Surveys and Tutorials. This version has NOT been proof-read and may have some some inconsistencies. Please refer to final version published in IEEE Xplor

Integration of BIM and utility sensor data for facilities management

Building information modelling represents a building as a database of coordinated, consistent and computable information in construction (Sabol, 2008). There has been a recent trend to study the usage of BIM for post-construction facility management. Recently, attempts are also being made to link a BIM model with smart sensing technology or building automation systems (BAC). This thesis aims to investigate the feasibility of using sensor data from mote based light sensors tied to a BIM model, to be used for maintenance based facility management. More specifically, a prototype will be developed that integrates lighting sensor data collected using a mote tied to a wireless sensor network(WSN), with a BIM model. This integration will then be further developed for its capability of being used as a facility management tool for equipment inventory and preventive maintenance by linking COBIE sheets to it

Deriving state machines from tinyos programs using symbolic execution.

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