Reliable Networked Sensing Systems Past Projects and Future Research Agenda Jan Beutel, ETH Zurich

Past Research Projects 2000 – 2007BTnode Project Collaborators: F. Mattern, K. Römer (all ETH Zurich) and R. Schmid (Art of Technology, Zurich) 2001 – 2005NCCR MICS – Communicating Embedded Systems Collaborators: F. Mattern and R. Wattenhofer (all ETH Zurich) and A. Schiper (EPF Lausanne) 2000 – 2004Miniaturized Wearable Computing: Technology and Applications Collaborators: G. Tröster, B. Schiele and L. van Gool (all ETH Zurich) 2001Netsim Collaborators: E. Wandeler and A. Zollinger (all ETH Zurich) 1999PicoRadio Collaborators: B. Brodersen, J. Rabaey and P. Wright (all UC Berkeley) 1998 – 1999 WinCE Engine Collaborators: T. Bösch (ETH Zurich) and A. Thiel (u-blox AG, Zurich) 1998GPS-E1 Evaluation Kit Collaborators: A. Thiel and J.P. Wyss (all u-blox AG, Zurich) 1997 – 1998Palm Pilot Kiosk Collaborators: T. Bösch (ETH Zurich) 1997Build Your World Collaborators: B. Plattner, M. Kreuzer (all ETH Zurich) and M. Manegold (Imagimation, Zug) 1995 – 1998ThixoStruct Collaborators: A. Wahlen (ETH Zurich) and Aluminum Martigny (Martigny, CH)

Current and Future Research Projects 2008 – 2012nano-tera.ch – OpenSense, WaWa-Node Function: co-investigator, under review 2009 – 2012NCCR MICS PermaSense-III, Observability by Design Function: principal investigator 2008 – 2010The Swiss Experiment Function: principal investigator Funding: CCES, SNSF, Microsoft Research; 570’000 CHF for the individual project (3 years) 2006 – 2008Safety Critical Sensor Networks for Building Applications Function: principal investigator Funding: CTI and Siemens Building Technologies, Zug, Switzerland; 699’000 CHF (3 years) 2005 – 2009NCCR MICS PermaSense-II/EMSR Function: principal investigator Funding: SNSF, Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN); 580’000 CHF (3 years) Sensor Network Platform Kit Function: principal investigator Funding: 670’000 CHF (3 years) Deployment of Sensor Networks Function: co-investigator Funding: 900’000 CHF (4 years) Serious Building Games Function: co-investigator Funding: joint funding with “Deployment of Sensor Networks”

Finances and Technical Staff Instrumental in the acquisition of MCHF third party funding –1/3 principal investigator, 2/3 co-investigator with Lothar Thiele Current technical staff (2FTE + HA) –Mustafa Yücel, Roman Lim – software engineer, Platform Kit – since 10/2006 –Josua Hunziker – student helper, PermaSense project – since 08/2008 Past technical staff –Tobias Rein – project engineer, Platform Kit – 05/2007 to 08/2007 –Vinodh Venkatesan – student helper, DSN – 10/2006 to 07/2007 –Kevin Martin – software engineer, BTnode and DSN – 08/2005 to 01/2007 –Martin Hinz – software engineer, BTnode platform – 08/2003 to 09/2004

Supervision and Research Staff Supervision of 44 students in various master and term theses PhD student collaborators –M. Keller – Complex Sensing and Actuation – since 10/2008 –F. Ferrari – Time Triggered Architectures – since 09/2008 –M. Wöhrle – Wireless Sensor Network Testing – since 01/2007 –M. Guo – Time Triggered Architectures – 11/2006 to 10/2008 –A. Meier – Low-power MAC Protocols – since 11/2005 on leave at the National University of Singapore from 11/2007 to 04/2008 –C. Moser – Regenerative Energy Supplies – since 10/2004

Teaching Design and implementation of the BTnode tutorial for graduate lab accompanying lectures in Embedded Systems and Wireless Sensor Networks –Additional transfer to conference tutorials (INSS, EWSN, ASCI) Design and implementation of the MOSES tutorial for a graduate course in Discrete Event Systems Lectures in Embedded Systems, Computer Engineering, Hardware- Software Codesign, Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks, Discrete Event Systems, Advanced Computer Architecture Frequent invited speaker/lecturer at seminars, summer schools, workshops

Past Achievements – Systems System concept and implementation of the Deployment-Support Network –Fundamentally new testbed concepts –Used in-house as well as by industrial partner for actual product development The BTnode Platform for fast-prototyping sensor and ad-hoc network applications –Commercialized, worldwide dissemination, in use for teaching –>1000 units sold to customers from +17 countries –Commercial replicas resulting from open source policy Pioneered work in Positioning Algorithms for Low-power Wireless Networks –Still an unsolved problem –Nurturing whole sessions/conferences on the topic

Past Achievements – Dissemination Publicly Available Hard- and Software Developments –The PermaSense Deployment –Continuous Integration for Wireless Sensor Networks –Sensor Network Platform Kit –The Sensor Network Museum tm –Deployment-Support Network –The BTnode Platform and BTnut –TinyOS-2.x-contrib –Build Your World – educational CDROM worldwide dissemination

Publications and Professional Activities –Book chapter and theses – 5 –Peer reviewed journals – 4 –Conference and workshop proceedings – 26 –Other – 17 Frequent reviewer and regular member of OC/TPC of the most prominent conferences in the field –SenSys, IPSN/SPOTS, EWSN, DCOSS, EMNETS, INSS, SIGCOMM, DATE, … Excellent contacts to the leading researchers in the field, academic and industrial, European, Asian and US Regular media presence with research results

ETH Annual Report Features BTnodes

Research Accomplishments – The Bottom Line Maybe not the most impressive publication list but predominantly at the premiere conferences. An impressive worldwide network of people, contacts and consultancies. A systems research agenda based on collaboration across disciplines and institutional borders. Successful set of end-to-end systems implementations allowing sound reality checking. Initiated and now leading a new research focus on wireless embedded systems research at ETHZ including solid funding.

FUTURE AGENDA

Trends in Information and Communication New Applications and System Paradigms Large-scale Distributed Systems Centralized Systems Networked Systems Internet

Beyond the proof-of-concept of 1 st Generation Wireless Sensor Network Research More an “art” than a coordinated effort yielding predictable results First generation research provided the proof-of-concept –Performance is poor –Causes are not fully understood –We are often lacking the necessary (scientific) rigor [Phil Levis, Stanford]

Reliable Wireless Networked Systems? The ability of a system or component to perform its required or designated functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time. Key issues: complexity – resources – power – interaction More so: The way we go about solving the problems encountered Non-iterative design process for networked systems –Predictable results –Reduction/capping of efforts required –Increasing the quality of the design, e.g. “correct-by-construction” Full end-to-end validation of all processes –Today cumbersome and error prone – if at all possible

A Vision of Future WSN Design Methodology... (Live) back annotation into the design space –„Closed loop“ system design –Including live data from simulation, testbeds, deployments Allowing to refine and validate architectural decisions, models, algorithms and implementations... Design Flow

A Facetted Yet Focused Systems Research Agenda System architecture, software and models –TinyOS, BTnodes, BTnut –Low-power protocols –Design-space exploration, formal metrics, real-time Test and validation methodology –DSN testbed, deployment tools –Multi-context tracing –Unit testing, formal models Sensor network deployments –Design methodology, platform kit –Smart Buildings, PermaSense Architecture Testing Applications

My Research Should… Be of value to and used by researchers and practitioners alike. Meaningful results at the forefront of technology. Enable sustainable solutions with impact and longevity. Empower architects and designers with the right principles, abstractions and tools for achieving a specified functionality in deterministic time. My work so far is stepping stones in this direction. We are starting to see the actual sweet spots. But there is more mileage ahead.

Educational Goals Fundamentals & theory –Solid foundation in embedded & real-time systems, system architecture, design automation, algorithm design, signal processing, wireless and mobile systems Hands-on experience –Labs, group projects (e.g. Lego Mindstorms based 1 st year students) –Integration of students into real-life research efforts Active discourse on current (hot) and emerging topics –Cross-disciplinary reading seminars on recent (local) work –Knowledge of peers –Fostering interaction and dialogue with experts from academia and industry –Scientific writing, presentation, researching and reviewing skills

Embedding My Work In Sweden Existing interactions –SICS (Thiemo Voigt, Adam Dunkels) –UU (Per Gunningberg, Christian Rohner, Bengt Jonsson, Wang Yi) Many interesting partners in Engineering Sciences and Information Technology – further application partners in other departments WISENET VINN excellence center –Topics of interest: Node integration & energy, networking, wireless protocols, application projects –Interdisciplinary focus with integration of devices (MEMS, packaging), sensors and batteries is an asset to my own work/network My contributions –7+ years experience from involvement in NCCR MICS –Active international network