Sensor Networks Solutions to Real Life Problems Polly Huang NTU, EE & INM

Road Map Background –The Up’s and Down’s of Network Research Along came Polly –The attitude and the topics Sensor networks application and design

Background The Up’s and Down’s of Network Research

Network What’s a network? Have you ever thought about it? Try these –Subway network, bus network, highway network –Postal network, telephone network, mobile phone network, computer network –Human, social network

Network, in the most fundamental sense are just points and lines

The Internet, 1969

An ISP on Internet, 1999 Credit: ISI’s SCAN

Credit: CAIDA

The Significance Communication!!

Communication? Human, social network –People introduce you to their friends and so you get to know other people Subway network, bus network, highway network –People can move around and meet other people in person (physical space) Postal network, telephone network, mobile phone network, computer network –Information can move around and meet other people in the air (virtual space)

Network Research in EECS? Human, social network –Social science, psychology Subway network, bus network, highway network –Mechanical, civil, etc engineering Telephone network, mobile phone network, computer network –EE and CS network people

The Up’s and Down’s Based on the history –Telephone network (PSTN) –Computer network and mobile phone network Internet and the G stuff (GSM/GPRS/3G) PSTN G stuff Internet 80‘s90’s00‘s now

This trend is about Research not Industry The industry curve is different! (usually 10 years or so behind)

Back to Network Research Optical networking –Fiber and switching Mobile Telephone –Wireless media, media access, mobility Internet –Protocols (TCP/IP) –Applications (Web, P2P)

Along came Polly

The Attitude Research oriented –Crazy fantasy idealistic people are welcome –Innovations are results of creativity –Think Newton Teamwork going –We are already far from where the actions are –Two are better than one (carefully picking the two) Forward looking –Shoot for things that will be hot in the short term future –So we can be the people to offer help (translated to big $$) when the things are hot –Think buying stocks

How Forward Looking? Internet 80‘s90’s00‘s Sensor/device network Internet Weather

Internet Weather?

Regular Weather What’s this? Weather station interprets for us –Sunshiny –Temp: Credit: 中央氣象局

Internet Weather What’s this? Internet Weather station interprets for us –Connectivity stable – nodes – links Credit: ISI SCAN

Internet weather Internet is an ecosystem Deeply involved in our daily lives Just like the atmosphere We have now daily weather reports to determine whether to dress warm We need in the future continuous Internet weather reports to determine when and how much to bit for the stuff we want on eBay

Sensor Networks?

Computer Network How to pass data around? Internet architects design IP routing to find paths

Sensor(SOC) Networks How to pass data around? Sensor network architects design special routing algorithms to find paths Intel® Xscale CPU Analog and digital radio Flash and SRAM memory Sensors

Sensors? Also the biomedical sensors: EMG, pulses, emotions, etc camera mic accelerometer gyro pressure thermal GPS

Sensor Nodes Today MICA, cm X 3.18cm 4 MHz CPU 128K ROM 512K RAM 40kbps Radio range x00 feet Sensors, battery not included Spec, March mm X 2.5mm CPU, memory, RF transceiver Sensors, battery, antenna not included < 1 dollar if mass-produced

These sensor nodes could be the next wave made-in-Taiwan electronics!

The Significance of Sensor Networks Necessary support to the communication of sensor data

But how is this Useful?

Sensor Network Applications Home, Office, Medicine, Science & Nature, Agriculture

Intel Digital Home

UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management Day-lighting controls Airflow controls based on CO 2 level Operable windows control –taking advantage of on-site ocean breezes

Long-Term Nursing Home Accelerometers Pressure sensor Muscle activity Camera Orientation sensor Fall detection Unconsciousness detection Vital sign monitoring Dietary/exercise monitoring

The Channel Islands Fox

Fancy Californian Winemaking Berkeley motes –Taking temp per min –Store highest and lowest temp per hour To add soil moisture and pest/disease monitors

Yes, Useful Home: Digital Home Office: The Bren School Medicine: Elder Care Science & Nature: Island Fox Restoration Agriculture: Winemaking

But how should it Work?

Sensor Network Design Address Centric vs. Data Centric

Communication Models Address centric (for example IP) –Name the nodes –Data disseminated by the destination address Data centric –Nodes desiring data expressing ‘interest of content’ –Data disseminated based on the content

Expressing Interest

Disseminating Data

The Need to Go Data Centric Node addressing not scalable –Difficulty of configuring/tracking small nodes scattering around –Cost of re-configuration of nodes moving around Server infrastructure not efficient –Difficulty of deployment DNS and search engines in sensor networks? –The sum of maintenance traffic (energy) –Additional delay –Information might be outdated by the time of communication

More Research Issues Load balancing Naming and forwarding Service differentiation …

Sensor Network Conclusion What more convenience can technologies bring? Context-aware and intelligent services anywhere and anytime We need small devices with processing, sensing, and communication capabilities (SOCs) See ‘communication’? We need to design all over again how to network these SOCs

As I said Two is better than One

Network and System Lab People –1 faculty member Polly Huang NTU Math (BS) USC CS (Ph.D) ETHZ EE (Postdoc.) UCLA IPAM (Fellow) now NTU EE (Assistant Prof.) –10 grad students –3 undergrads Mission –The Network and System Laboratory pursues research towards building robust and scalable communication systems –We are generally interested in the design, modeling, simulation, and performance issues of such networked systems

Questions?