Implementing Software on Resource-Constrained Mobile Sensors: Experiences with Impala and ZebraNet

ZebraNet is a mobile, wireless sensor network in which nodes move throughout an environment working to gather and process information about their surroundings [10]. As in many sensor or wireless systems, nodes have critical resource constraints such as processing speed, memory size, and energy supply; they also face special hardware issues such as sensing device sample time, data storage/access restrictions, and wireless transceiver capabilities. This paper discusses and evaluates ZebraNet's system design decisions in the face of a range of real-world constraints. Impala--ZebraNet's middleware layer--serves as a lightweight operating system, but also has been designed to encourage application modularity, simplicity, adaptivity, and repairability. Impala is now implemented on ZebraNet hardware nodes, which include a 16-bit microcontroller, a lowpower GPS unit, a 900MHz radio, and 4Mbits of non-volatile FLASH memory. This paper discusses Impala's operation scheduling and ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: MOBISYS
• Authors: Ting Liu, Christopher M. Sadler, Pei Zhang, Margaret Martonosi
• Keywords: Mobile Sensor Design, MOBISYS 2004, Sensor Network Application, Wireless Networks, Wireless Sensor Network