CSR-CSI: An Update-conscious Compilation Framework for Energy-Efficient Code Dissemination in Wireless Sensor Networks

无线传感器网络(WSN)作为一种很有前途的嵌入式计算平台已经出现在许多非传统应用中。在许多情况下，这些应用程序的计算和数据获取过程是动态相关的，这就需要在部署后更改代码。例如：处理新现象的代码补丁，或软件错误。在无线传感器网络中执行代码更改的一种天真方法是以数据分组的形式发送代码或代码差异，并让传感器节点计算新代码。由于无线传感器网络中数据传输所消耗的能量远远高于本地指令执行所消耗的能量，因此在无线传感器网络的代码分发过程中保持高能效是非常重要的。该项目建议进行有更新意识的编译，以实现节能的代码分发。该集成编译框架由一套宿端更新感知编译技术和传感器端软件解码器/二进制重写器组成。具体地说，该项目的智能优点是：1)更新感知寄存器分配技术；2)更新感知数据分配技术；3)更新感知代码放置技术；4)支持更新感知编译的工具。该提案还包含一些有趣的问题，对于处于早期研究阶段的学生来说，这些问题很容易理解。这将从一个新的角度吸引更多的学生进入传统领域。同时，该项目为学生提供了将经典领域与最新流行领域联系起来的机会。通过这项研究，PI致力于培养学生对嵌入式软件开发的浓厚兴趣和积极态度。

The wireless sensor network (WSN) has been emerged as a promising embedded computing platform for many nontraditional applications. In many cases, the computation and data acquisition processes of these applications are dynamically correlated, which poses the need for code changes after the deployment. For example: code patches to handle new phenomena, or software bugs. A naïve way of performing code changes in a WSN is to send the code or code differences in form of data packets, and let the sensor nodes compute the new code. Since energy consumed by data transmission is much higher than that consumed by local instruction execution, it is important to be energy-efficient during the code dissemination in WSNs. This project proposes update-conscious compilation for achieving energy-efficient code dissemination. The integrated compilation framework consists of a set of sink-side update-aware compilation techniques, and a sensor-side software-decoder/binary-rewriter. Specifically, the intellectual merits of this project are: 1) update-aware register allocation techniques; 2) update-aware data allocation techniques; 3) update-aware code placement techniques; 4) tools for enabling update-aware compilation. The proposal also contains interesting problems that are simple to understand for students at their early research stages. This will attract more students into the traditional fields from a new angle. At the same time, this project provides students with opportunities to connect classic fields with the latest prevailing areas. Through this research, the PIs are committed to cultivating a strong interest and a positive attitude among students towards embedded software development.