CAREER: Cross-layer Design for Sensor Management in Wireless Sensor Networks

据估计，到2010年，将部署超过100亿个无线传感器，用于环境监测、监视和医疗监测等各种应用。要让这些传感器网络在无人值守的情况下持续数年，关键是要使它们节能，同时确保它们提供满足应用需求所需的数据。虽然许多研究集中在为满足这些目标而设计单独的协议，但对系统级网络操作的优化的关注要少得多。其中一种方法是跨层系统设计，它将许多协议功能集成到一个高级传感器管理协议中，该协议为每个传感器分配角色；这些角色包括感知环境、路由其他传感器的数据、在本地融合数据以及控制相邻节点。该项目开发了允许全局优化传感器管理的模型，并开发了分布式技术，在所有可能的角色中联合优化传感器和网络资源的使用。优化模型突出了现有技术的潜在局限性，分布式体系结构为长生命周期的传感器网络提供了可行的解决方案，传感器网络试验台的实现展示了这种跨层体系结构在实际系统中的有效性。这项研究具有很高的社会影响的潜力，加上所采用的创新技术，为吸引从初中到研究生的学生到现场和培训这一令人兴奋的领域的下一代工程师提供了大量机会。

It is estimated that by the year 2010 more than 10 billion wireless sensors will be deployed for use in applications as diverse as environmental monitoring, surveillance, and medical monitoring. For these sensor networks to last for years unattended, it is vital to make them energy-efficient while ensuring they provide the data necessary to meet application needs. While much research has focused on the design of individual protocols to meet these goals, much less attention has been paid to the optimization of network operation at the system level. One such approach is a cross-layer system design that integrates many of the protocol functions into a high level sensor management protocol that assigns roles to each sensor; these roles include sensing the environment, routing other sensors' data, fusing the data locally, and controlling neighboring nodes. This project develops models that allow for global optimization of sensor management, and it develops distributed techniques that jointly optimize the use of sensor and network resources in all possible roles. The optimization models highlight the potential limitations of existing techniques, the distributed architecture provides a feasible solution for long lifetime sensor networks, and a sensor network testbed implementation shows the efficacy of this cross-layer architecture for real systems. The potential of this research for high societal impact combined with the innovative techniques being employed provide ample opportunities for attracting students, from junior high school up through graduate school, to the field and for training the next generation of engineers in this exciting area.