Sensor network software update management: a survey

Software management is a critical task in the system administration of enterprise-scale networks. Enterprise-scale networks that have traditionally comprised of large clusters of workstations are expanding to include low-power ad hoc wireless sensor networks (WSN). The existing tools for software updates in workstations cannot be used with the severely resource-constrained sensor nodes. In this article, we survey the software update techniques in WSNs. We base our discussion around a conceptual model for the software update tools in WSNs. Three components of this model that we study are the execution environment at the sensor nodes, the software distribution protocol in the network and optimization of transmitted updates. We present the design space of each component and discuss in-depth the trade-offs that need to be considered in making a particular design choice. The discussion is interspersed with references to deployed systems that highlight the design choices.

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