Design and evaluation of a self-configuring wireless mesh network architecture

Wireless network connectivity plays an increasingly important role in supporting our everyday private and professional lives. For over three decades, self-organizing wireless multi-hop ad-hoc networks have been investigated as a decentralized replacement for the traditional forms of wireless networks that rely on a wired infrastructure. However, despite the tremendous efforts of the international wireless research community and widespread availability of devices that are able to support these networks, wireless ad-hoc networks are hardly ever used. In this work, the reasons behind this discrepancy are investigated. It is found that several basic theoretical assumptions on ad-hoc networks prove to be wrong when solutions are deployed in reality, and that several basic functionalities are still missing. It is argued that a hierarchical wireless mesh network architecture, in which specialized, multi-interfaced mesh nodes form a reliable multi-hop wireless backbone for the less capable end-user clients is an essential step in bringing the ad-hoc networking concept one step closer to reality. Therefore, in a second part of this work, algorithms increasing the reliability and supporting the deployment and management of these wireless mesh networks are developed, implemented and evaluated, while keeping the observed limitations and practical considerations in mind. Furthermore, the feasibility of the algorithms is verified by experiment. The performance analysis of these protocols and the ability to deploy the developed algorithms on current generation off-the-shelf hardware indicates the successfulness of the followed research approach, which combines theoretical considerations with practical implementations and observations. However, it was found that there are also many pitfalls to using real-life implementation as a research technique. Therefore, in the last part of this work, a methodology for wireless network research using real-life implementation is developed, allowing researchers to generate more reliable protocols and performance analysis results with less effort

Managed ecosystems of networked objects

Small embedded devices such as sensors and actuators will become the cornerstone of the Future Internet. To this end, generic, open and secure communication and service platforms are needed in order to be able to exploit the new business opportunities these devices bring. In this paper, we evaluate the current efforts to integrate sensors and actuators into the Internet and identify the limitations at the level of cooperation of these Internet-connected objects and the possible intelligence at the end points. As a solution, we propose the concept of Managed Ecosystem of Networked Objects, which aims to create a smart network architecture for groups of Internet-connected objects by combining network virtualization and clean-slate end-to-end protocol design. The concept maps to many real-life scenarios and should empower application developers to use sensor data in an easy and natural way. At the same time, the concept introduces many new challenging research problems, but their realization could offer a meaningful contribution to the realization of the Internet of Things