Towards a Language and Runtime for Intermi ently-Powered Devices

Tiny batteryless RFID-scale sensing devices promise to transform science and society by enabling long-term, maintenance-free data gathering. These intermittently-powered devices are a key enabling technology for the future Internet-of-Things (IoT): as the economics of disposal and recharging of batteries do not scale to the trillions of devices in the IoT. System designers currently lack the end-to-end solution for designing and deploying these devices en masse. In this paper we describe a potential language and runtime for the tiny, intermittently-powered devices, that will become the fundamental units of the IoT. We consider the many challenges, and outline requirements, for such a language. We then cast the language in the broader scope of an end-to-end toolchain for intermittentlypowered devices. Finally, we discuss how languages for these devices should be evaluated–with a focus on usability, and ease of adoption–and outline questions guiding any evaluation of future languages.