A Java Virtual Machine for Sensor Networks

Sensor network consists of a large number of sensor node distributed in the environment being sensed and controlled. The resource-constrained sensor nodes tend to have various and heterogeneous architecture. Thus, it is important to make its software environment platform-independent and reprogrammable. In this paper, we present BeeVM, a Java operating system designed for sensor networks. BeeVM offers a platform-independent Java programming environment with its efficiently executable file format and a set of class APIs for basic operating functions, sensing and wireless networking. BeeVM`s high-level native interface and layered network subsystem allow complex program for sensor network to be short and readable. Our platform has been ported on two currently popular hardware platforms and we show its effectiveness through the evaluation of a simple application.