Run-Time Reconfiguration in Wireless Sensor Networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of multiple small and simple computers (nodes), whose performance is tightly linked to its unpredictable deployment environment. It is nearly impossible to design a WSN that performs well in every scenario; instead they are developed for a specific context, with performance rapidly decreasing when environment properties move away from the optimum. Enabling a WSN to adapt to a changing environment could be a solution for this problem. The goal of this thesis project is to develop software for sensor nodes that is able to reconfigure a wireless sensor network at run-time, allowing the sensor network to perform within its requirements under changing conditions. An approach is proposed in which developers provide knowledge about the WSN’s requirements to sensor nodes during design-time, enabling the nodes to reason about their configuration at run-time. A middleware solution is designed that combines the run-time environment data with the knowledge about the requirements and indicates which reconfiguration is required. A proof-of-concept implementation is developed which reasons about reconfiguration within milliseconds. The performed evaluation includes the implementation of a reconfigurable modal analysis application and shows the processing and memory overhead introduced by the middleware remains low. The approach proves to be a solid basis for future developments on reconfigurable sensor networks. Graduation Committee Prof.dr. K.G. Langendoen (chair) Delft University of Technology Dr.ir. G.N. Gaydadjiev Delft University of Technology Dr.ir. Z. Papp (daily supervisor) TNO Dr. M. Woehrle (university supervisor) Delft University of Technology