ITR: ZebraNet: Position-aware Power-aware Wireless Computing for Wildlife Tracking

随着计算机系统变得越来越普遍，计算机系统的研究和设计已经从一个高度以性能为中心的过程转变为一个兼顾许多设计目标和指标的过程。移动和嵌入式计算系统除了提供足够的性能外，还必须坚固、可靠、节能和轻量级。由于它们所面临的极端和多维设计约束，它们还必须注意应用领域的特定需求，以便在设计时满足这些需求，同时仍然满足功率预算和重量限制。普林斯顿ZebraNet项目是一项跨学科的努力，同时涉及生物学和计算机系统。在计算机系统方面，ZebraNet正在研究功率感知、位置感知计算/通信系统。也就是说，ZebraNet项目致力于开发、评估、实施和测试集成了计算、无线通信、非易失性存储以及全球定位系统（GPS）和其他传感器的系统。在生物学方面，这项技术使动物迁徙和物种间相互作用的新研究成为可能。从计算的角度来看，为了使系统节能可靠，需要在协议和系统设计方面取得关键的研究突破。从生物学的角度来看，该系统从根本上实现了新型的生物学观察，使我们能够：(1)了解大型哺乳动物的远距离迁徙，(2)观察食肉动物（捕食者）和有蹄类动物（猎物）之间的物种间相互作用，(3)追踪极度濒危物种的行为。作为一个计算机系统研究问题，ZebraNet是引人注目的，因为生物研究人员的需求非常严格，需要在无线协议、低功耗计算机系统设计和计算机系统电源管理方面取得真正的突破。这些突破可以被利用到其他（非野生动物）研究领域；ZebraNet本质上是一种功率感知的无线自组织传感器网络，但与大多数先前的传感器网络研究问题相比，它具有更严重的带宽和计算需求。作为一个生物学研究问题，ZebraNet允许研究人员提出并回答关于远距离迁徙、物种间相互作用和夜间行为的重要长期问题。主要研究活动范围广泛，包括：动物远程迁徙建模观察物种间捕食者-猎物互动分析人类发展对动物行为的影响为位置感知计算开发功率感知系统将错误恢复能力和特定领域的性能优化纳入轻量级无线协议管理传感器日志数据以减少跟踪节点所需上传的数量zebranet正在从事理论研究，原型设计，现场实验。这些项目不仅仅是关于系统构建，而是将理论与zebranet设计的实际动手评估相结合。研究是在普林斯顿大学和Mpala研究中心进行的。姆帕拉是肯尼亚中部的一个生物野外站，由普林斯顿大学与肯尼亚野生动物管理局、肯尼亚国家博物馆、姆帕拉野生动物基金会和史密森尼学会共同管理。总的来说，ZebraNet代表了一个真正的跨学科的努力，汇集了来自不同领域的研究优势，以解决一个具有挑战性的问题。该项目的潜在贡献包括计算技术的重大进步，以及我们对野生动物迁徙的理解。三位主要研究人员在野生动物生物学、功率感知计算机系统和无线技术方面发挥了各自的优势。这些学科之间的相互作用促进了对这两个领域的研究问题的创造性。

As computer systems become increasingly ubiquitous, computer systems research and design has movedfrom being a highly performance-centric process to being one that juggles many design goals and metrics.Mobile and embedded computing systems must, in addition to providing sufficient performance, be rugged,reliable, power-efficient, and lightweight. Because of the extreme and multidimensional design constraints they face, they must also be attentive to the specific needs of application domains, so they can be designed to satisfy these needs while still meeting power budgets and weight limits.The Princeton ZebraNet Project is an inter-disciplinary effort with thrusts in both Biology and ComputerSystems. On the computer systems side, ZebraNet is studying power-aware, position-awarecomputing/communication systems. Namely, the ZebraNet project works to develop, evaluate, implement,and test systems that integrate computing, wireless communication, and non-volatile storage along withglobal positioning systems (GPS) and other sensors. On the biology side, the technology enables novelstudies of animal migrations and inter-species interactions. From a computing standpoint, key researchbreakthroughs are required in protocol and system design in order to make the system power-efficient andreliable. From a biology standpoint, the system enables fundamentally new types of biologicalobservations that allow us to: (i) understand long-range migrations in large mammals, (ii) observe inter-species interactions between carnivores (predators) and ungulates (prey), and (iii) track the behavior of extremely endangered species.As a computer systems research problem, ZebraNet is compelling because the needs of the biologicalresearchers are stringent enough to require real breakthroughs in wireless protocols and in low-powercomputer systems design and computer systems power management. These breakthroughs can beleveraged into other (non-wildlife-oriented) fields of research; essentially ZebraNet is a power-awarewireless ad hoc sensor network, but with more serious bandwidth and computational needs than most priorsensor networks research problems. As a biology research problem, ZebraNet allows researchers to poseand to answer important long-standing questions about long-range migration, inter-species interactions, and nocturnal behavior.Major research activities span a broad range, including: Modeling long-range animal migrations Observing inter-species predator-prey interactions Analyzing the impact of human development on animal behavior Developing power-aware systems for position-aware computing Incorporating error resilience and domain-specific performance optimizations into lightweight wireless protocols Managing logged sensor data to minimize the number of required uploads from tracking nodesZebraNet is engaging in a mix of theoretical research, prototyping, and field experimentation. The projectis not solely about systems-building, but rather mixes theory with practical hands-on evaluations of theZebraNet designs. Research is conducted both at Princeton University and at the Mpala Research Centre.Mpala is a biology field station in central Kenya that Princeton University administers along with theKenya Wildlife Service, the National Museums of Kenya, the Mpala Wildlife Foundation, and theSmithsonian Institution.Overall, ZebraNet represents a truly interdisciplinary effort bringing together research strengths fromdisparate fields over a challenging problem. The potential contribution of the project includes significantadvances in computing technology as well as in our understanding of wildlife migrations. The three mainresearchers bring strengths in wildlife biology, power-aware computer systems, and wireless technology.The interplay between these disciplines fosters creative to the research problems in both arenas.