Collaborative Research: CSR---EHS: Improving Sensor Network Software Reliability through Language, Tool, and OS Co-Design

无线传感器网络能够从真实的世界中进行细粒度的实时信息收集。 传感器网络软件具有生命周期长、规模大、嵌入深度深等特点，因此必须具有可靠性。 本研究项目通过并行协同设计的操作系统，它的语言，并支持程序分析工具，提高基于组件的无线传感器网络软件的可靠性的挑战。 该项目专注于TinyOS，并寻求解决即使是专家开发人员也会遇到的困难组件组合问题。 长期愿景是让非专业开发人员能够从现有组件中创建健壮的应用程序。 该研究基于三种互补的方法。首先，PI正在开发工具支持，以便为开发人员提供有关如何满足时间限制的建议。 TinyOS中的时序问题很难处理，因为它们以非直观的方式跨越组件边界。 其次，PI正在为TinyOS添加对组件接口契约的支持。 契约验证了使用组件的“规则”得到了尊重，当开发人员误解或滥用接口时，可以精确地指出错误，避免困难的调试会话。 最后，基于他们在静态和动态定时以及合同检查之间权衡的经验，PI正在重新审视TinyOS的基本抽象和结构，重新设计它们，使其更容易检查，因此更可靠。 这样做的目的是为了提高可靠性，通过设计使许多类别的错误不可能发生，而不是依赖于英勇的分析和测试技术

Wireless sensor networks enable fine-grained, real-time information collection from the real world. Sensor net software must be reliable because it is long-lived, large scale, and deeply embedded. This research project addresses the challenge of improving the reliability of component-based wireless sensor network software through the parallel co-design of an operating system, its language, and supporting program analysis tools. The project focuses on TinyOS and seeks to solve difficult component composition problems that even expert developers encounter. The long-term vision is to make creating robust applications largely from existing components feasible for non-expert developers. The research is based on three complementary approaches. First, the PIs are developing tool support for giving developers advice about how to meet time constraints. Timing problems are difficult to deal with in TinyOS because they cut across component boundaries in non-intuitive ways. Second, the PIs are adding support for component interface contracts to TinyOS. Contracts verify that the "rules" for using a component are respected, pinpointing errors when developers misunderstand or misuse an interface, avoiding difficult debugging sessions. Finally, based on their experiences with the tradeoffs between static and dynamic timing and contract checking, the PIs are revisiting the basic abstractions and structure of TinyOS, redesigning them to be more easily checkable, and therefore more reliable. The intent is to improve reliability by rendering many classes of bugs impossible by design, rather than relying on heroic analysis and testing techniques