Life cycle support for sensor network applications

Developing applications for sensor networks is a challenging task. Most programming systems narrowly focus on programming issues while ignoring that programming represents only a tiny fraction of the typical life cycle of an application. Furthermore, application developers face the prospect of investing a lot of time in writing code that has "nothing" to do with the actual application logic. A lot of this code is related to different life cycle concerns such as distributed programming issues or runtime services (e.g. group communication or time synchronisation). In this paper we introduce an engineering method that simplifies the development of sensor network applications by providing comprehensive life cycle support for programming as well as ongoing evolutionary modification of embedded applications throughout the application life cycle. The proposed engineering method is realised in form of a concrete system called RuleCaster. To verify the utility of the engineering method and RuleCaster we use a scenario-based evaluation method.

[1]  Ryan Newton,et al.  Region streams: functional macroprogramming for sensor networks , 2004, DMSN '04.

[2]  Amy L. Murphy,et al.  Middleware to support sensor network applications , 2004, IEEE Network.

[3]  Wei Hong,et al.  TinyDB: an acquisitional query processing system for sensor networks , 2005, TODS.

[4]  Matt Welsh,et al.  Programming Sensor Networks Using Abstract Regions , 2004, NSDI.

[5]  Luca Mottola,et al.  Logical Neighborhoods: A Programming Abstraction for Wireless Sensor Networks , 2006, DCOSS.

[6]  Naranker Dulay,et al.  Specifying Distributed Software Architectures , 1995, ESEC.

[7]  Urs Bischoff,et al.  Programming the smart home , 2007 .

[8]  Urs Bischoff,et al.  A State-Based Programming Model and System for Wireless Sensor Networks , 2007, Fifth Annual IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PerComW'07).

[9]  Ramesh Govindan,et al.  Macro-programming Wireless Sensor Networks Using Kairos , 2005, DCOSS.

[10]  Jörg Hähner,et al.  TinyCubus: a flexible and adaptive framework sensor networks , 2005, Proceeedings of the Second European Workshop on Wireless Sensor Networks, 2005..

[11]  Mark W. Newman,et al.  The challenges of user-centered design and evaluation for infrastructure , 2003, CHI '03.

[12]  Timothy Sohn,et al.  iCAP: Interactive Prototyping of Context-Aware Applications , 2006, Pervasive.

[13]  Adam Dunkels,et al.  Contiki - a lightweight and flexible operating system for tiny networked sensors , 2004, 29th Annual IEEE International Conference on Local Computer Networks.

[14]  Feng Zhao,et al.  State-Centric Programming for Sensor-Actuator Network Systems , 2003, IEEE Pervasive Comput..

[15]  David E. Culler,et al.  The dynamic behavior of a data dissemination protocol for network programming at scale , 2004, SenSys '04.

[16]  Urs Bischoff,et al.  A Compiler for the Smart Space , 2007, AmI.

[17]  David E. Culler,et al.  Hood: a neighborhood abstraction for sensor networks , 2004, MobiSys '04.

[18]  Leonard J. Bass,et al.  Scenario-Based Analysis of Software Architecture , 1996, IEEE Softw..

[19]  Steve Benford,et al.  The evolution of buildings and implications for the design of ubiquitous domestic environments , 2003, CHI '03.