Sensor Networks:

Wireless sensor networks are used for sensing, monitoring, processing and disseminating data in various forms. Emerging technologies will necessitate a significant decrease in the size, weight and power requirements of sensors. These embedded sensors will be deployed extensively for applications such as traffic monitoring, telemedicine, and structural health monitoring, as well as tactical battlefield communications. Numerous sensor radio products have been or are being developed for applications in the military and commercial domains. As the demand increases, the bandwidth and power constraints will become more and more stringent. However, most of the existing designs address power concerns at the individual layers of the protocol suite, and do not incorporate cross layer optimization in terms of energy usage.

CompSys team is currently investigating an integrated cross layer wireless network protocol suite for energy constrained sensor radios. The focus of the cross layer design is to conserve energy by effectively utilizing the information across layers. An integrated cross layer protocol suite is designed from data-link layer to transport layer for low power, low duty cycled sensor radios. The networking protocol is designed to be independent of the sensor type and is optimized for applications requiring small data packets (e.g., acoustic, magnetic or seismic sensors). A routing protocol that caters the power needs of the sensor networks is also being developed.