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。 为了使这些传感器网络能够持续数年无人值守，至关重要的是使它们节能，同时确保它们提供满足应用需求所需的数据。 虽然许多研究都集中在设计的个人协议，以满足这些目标，很少有人注意到在系统级的网络操作的优化。 一种这样的方法是跨层系统设计，将许多协议功能集成到高级传感器管理协议中，该协议为每个传感器分配角色;这些角色包括感测环境，路由其他传感器的数据，本地融合数据，以及控制相邻节点。 该项目开发的模型，允许传感器管理的全局优化，它开发分布式技术，共同优化使用传感器和网络资源在所有可能的角色。 优化模型突出了现有技术的潜在局限性，分布式架构提供了一个可行的解决方案，长寿命的传感器网络，和传感器网络测试床实现显示这种跨层架构的功效为真实的系统。 这项研究的潜在高社会影响力与创新技术相结合，为吸引学生提供了充足的机会，从初中到研究生院，到现场，并在这个令人兴奋的领域培养下一代工程师。

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.