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IDRA: A flexible system architecture for next generation wireless sensor networks

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Abstract

Wireless sensor networks consist of embedded devices (sensor nodes), equipped with a low-power radio. They are used for many applications: from wireless building automation to e-health applications. However, due to the limited capabilities of sensor nodes, designing network protocols for these constrained devices is currently very challenging. Therefore, this paper presents the IDRA platform: an information driven architecture designed to support next-generation applications on resource constrained networked objects. IDRA supports simple but useful optimizations at an architectural level. These include support for cross-protocol interactions, energy efficiency optimizations, QoS optimizations (packet priorities, dynamic protocol selection), mobility support and heterogeneous network support. The paper shows how the development of protocols is improved by using an architecture which delegates specific tasks to a central system, decreasing the memory requirements of associated network protocols. A thorough experimental performance analysis demonstrates that IDRA is much more scalable in terms of memory requirements, energy requirements and processing overhead than traditional system architectures. Finally, the paper discusses how the optimizations presented in this paper can be used for the clean-slate design of architectures for other wireless or wired network types.

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Notes

  1. Due to added functionality and several optimizations, the total memory requirements differ from those reported in a previous publication [1].

  2. Even though the IDRA packet part descriptors do not contain protocol logic, it is possible in IDRA to associate packet-dependent protocol logic to existing packet types. For example, a ARP protocol can register itself to be executed before the transmission of a UDP/IP packet (see Sect. 3.2).

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Acknowledgements

This research is funded by the FP7 SPITFIRE project, by the FWO-Fl CLAWS project, by the IWT-SBO SymbioNets project and by the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen) through a PhD. grant for E. De Poorter and E. Troubleyn. The author also wishes to thank L. Tytgat for implementing the optimized CC2420 radio controller.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Technology (INTEC), Ghent University—IBBT, Gaston Crommenlaan 8, Bus 201, 9050, Ghent, Belgium

    Eli De Poorter, Evy Troubleyn, Ingrid Moerman & Piet Demeester

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  1. Eli De Poorter
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  2. Evy Troubleyn
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  3. Ingrid Moerman
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  4. Piet Demeester
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eli De Poorter.

Additional information

This article elaborates on the paper ‘An Information Driven Sensornet Architecture’ [1]. It adds more in-depth descriptions of the proposed architectural optimizations and adds quantitative analyses for each discussed technique.

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De Poorter, E., Troubleyn, E., Moerman, I. et al. IDRA: A flexible system architecture for next generation wireless sensor networks. Wireless Netw 17, 1423–1440 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-011-0356-5

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