CAREER: Energy Synchronized Computing in Sustainable Sensor Networks

随着无处不在的传感和网络物理交互需求的日益增长，无线传感器网络已成为生境监测、小气候研究、结构完整性分析、精准农业、交通工程和辅助生活等许多长期应用的关键技术之一。与竞争的高端技术相比，传感器网络以低成本、低调和易于部署而闻名。然而，这些吸引人的优势意味着单个节点可用的资源严重有限。其中，能源限制是迄今为止阻碍这一新兴技术实际应用的最关键障碍。该项目解决的一个核心挑战是在能源动态环境中维持无线传感器网络多年的运行。这个项目的驱动思想是能量同步计算？一种将传感器网络活动与来自环境的动态能量供应同步的整体方法。该项目的预期交付是(i)可持续传感器节点的设计和实现，（ii）可持续网络技术的架构原则、理论见解、设计方法和协议，（iii）长期可持续应用的运行原型系统，以及（iv）教育试验台，面向K-12学生和少数群体的推广活动，以及本科和研究生课程的课程设计。

With the increasing demand of ubiquitous sensing and cyber-physical interaction, wireless sensor networks have emerged as one of the key technologies for many long-term applications such as such as habitat monitoring, microclimate study, structural integrity analysis, precise agriculture, traffic engineering and assisted living. Compared with competing high-end technologies, sensor networks are acclaimed as low-cost, low-profile, and easy to deploy. These attractive advantages, however, imply that resources available to individual nodes are severely limited. Among them, energy constraint is by far the most critical hurdle hindering the practical deployment of this emerging technology. A central challenge addressed by this project is to sustain the operation of wireless sensor networks for years in energy-dynamic environments. The driven idea of this project is energy-synchronized computing ?a holistic approach to synchronize sensor network activities with dynamic energy supply from the environments. The expected deliveries of this project are (i) the design and implementation of sustainable sensor nodes, (ii) the architecture principles, theoretical insights, design methodologies, and protocols for sustainable networking technology, (iii) the running prototype systems for long-term sustainable applications, and (iv) the educational test-beds, outreach activities for K-12 students and minority groups, and curriculum designs for undergraduate and graduate courses.