Design, Implementation and Adaptation of Sensor Networks through Multi-dimensional Co-design

传感器网络在大规模系统监测中正变得越来越普遍；这种传感系统的例子包括城市污染(环境)、通信网络服务质量(工业)和汽车(交通)。由部署的传感器产生的数据被监控被感知系统的行为是否与正常操作一致；该数据还可用于驱动被感知系统的闭环控制(自主管理)。传感器可以产生大量数据；在许多情况下，保存数据以供后续检索是至关重要的。创建有效的传感系统需要许多不同学科的技能；尤其重要的是最佳利用可跨越硬件/软件边界的协同作用。这类系统的集成设计必须弥合这些不同学科之间的语义鸿沟，并处理恶劣环境中固有的复杂性，例如高失败预期、复杂的统计数据、难以理解的机制。基于传感器的应用系统必须解决其设计中关注的几个领域(功能)：应用程序、通信网络、监控和控制以及数据管理。对于无线传感器网络，网络功能被进一步分解为通信协议和无线电能力/特性。通常，这样的系统垂直地处理这些功能中的每一个，结果是无法通过共同设计实现任何潜在的协同效应。然后，设计人员被迫采用一次性、特别的设计更改，以针对稀缺的资源消耗(例如电池电源)和关键部署要求(例如组件的可维护性、可重用性)进行定制。我们断言，通过跨多个维度/功能的协同设计可以实现实质性的协同，从而使如此设计的系统能够更好地满足其功能和非功能性需求。我们建议在这些关注的每个领域中指定特定传感器系统的要求，但然后使用协同设计原则来产生集成的设计和实现，以实现实质性的协同，并更好地反映被传感系统的底层物理环境。这项工作将通过应用现有的技术，如面向方面的设计方法，将软硬件协同设计的概念扩展到多个关注领域，并使用正交技术指定每个关注领域对特定传感器系统的需求。然后，通过使用适当的硬件/软件粘合剂将各个组件编织在一起来实现系统设计，以实现必要的集成。该软件/固件生成阶段将针对所需系统的适当实用功能进行优化。该项目的一揽子工作将涉及：每个关注领域的正规化和明确每个关注领域的语言的定义，将这些规范编织成符合系统功能和质量要求的最佳联合设计的处理器，所产生的系统满足系统要求的正式核实，如此设计的传感器系统原型的实施平台，以及使用这些技术建造的两个原型系统。

Sensor networks are becoming increasingly prevalent in large-scale system monitoring; examples of such sensed systems include city pollution (envi-ronmental), communication network quality of service (industrial), and automotive (transportation). The data produced by the deployed sensors is monitored for behavior of the sensed system that is consistent with normal operation; the data can also be used to drive closed-loop control of the sensed system (autonomic management). The sensors can produce large volumes of data; in many contexts, it is essential to save the data for subsequent retrieval.Creating an effective sensing system requires skills from many disparate disciplines; of particular importance is optimal exploitation of synergies avail-able across the hardware/software boundary. Integrated design of such systems must bridge the semantic gaps between these disparate disciplines and deal with the complexities inherent in hostile environments / e.g. high expectation of failure, complex statistics, poorly-understood mechanisms.Sensor-based application systems must address several areas of concern (functionalities) in their design: application, communication network, moni-toring and control, and data management. For wireless sensor networks, the network functionality is further broken down into communication proto-cols and radio capabilities/characteristics.Usually such systems address each of these functionalities orthogonally, with the result that any potential synergies available through co-design are not achieved. Designers are then forced to employ one-off, ad hoc, design changes to customize for scarce resource consumption (e.g. battery power) and critical deployment requirements (e.g. maintainability, reuse of components). It is our assertion that substantial synergy can be achieved through co-design across the multiple dimensions/functionalities, with the result that systems so designed are better able to meet their functional and non-functional requirements.We propose to specify the requirements for a particular sensor system in each of these areas of concern orthogonally, but to then use co-design principles for producing integrated designs and implementations that achieve substantial synergy and better reflect the underlying physical environment of the sensed system. This work will extend the notion of hardware/software co-design into multiple areas of concern through application of existing techniques, such as aspect-oriented design methods.The requirements for a particular sensor system in each of these areas of concern are specified using orthogonal techniques. The system design is then achieved by weaving together the individual components with appropriate hardware/software glue to achieve the requisite integration. This soft-ware/firmware generation phase will be optimized with respect to an appropriate utility function for the desired system. Iterative specification/integration will most likely be required to achieve maximum synergy.The work packages of the project will address: formalization of each area of concern and definition of languages for specifying each area of concern, a processor for weaving these specifications into an optimal co-design meeting the functional and quality requirements of the system, formal verification that the resulting system meets the system requirements, an implementation platform for prototyping sensor systems so designed, and two prototype systems constructed using these techniques.