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Digital Technology Group |
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| Computer Laboratory > Research > DTG |
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Embedded WiSeNts |
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Embedded WiSeNts, short name for Cooperating Embedded Systems for Exploration and Control using Wireless Sensor/Actuator Networks, is a Coordination Action (CA) funded by the European Commission under the Information Society Technology (IST) priority within the 6th Framework Programme (FP6). This project is a joint effort between twelve partners from ten different European countries that are among the top research institutions in wireless communication and distributed computing as well as in cooperating objects in general and are at the forefront of ubiquitous communication and wireless sensor networks in particular. The project runs from September 1st 2004 to August 31st 2006.
This is the UCAM-CL WiSeNts local webpage. For more details about parts not covered here, visit the WiSeNts central website.
Over recent years different system concepts have become apparent in the broader context of embedded systems. First, there is the classic view of embedded systems as mainly a control platform for some physical processes. More recently, the notion of pervasive and ubiquitous computing has evolved, where objects of everyday use can be equipped with some form of computational capacity, and perhaps with elementary sensing and communication capabilities. Third and most recently, the idea of wireless sensor networks has arisen, where entities that sense the environment collaborate extensively to achieve a well-defined goal of supervision of a particular process in a target area.
The Embedded WiSeNts project argues that such system concepts share certain functionality but also have some complementary aspects that make their combination in a coherent system promising. These systems consist of individual entities that are required to cooperate to achieve a goal, which will be typically sensing or actuating in the environment. Wireless sensor networks, for instance, operate with strong cooperation among sensor nodes. This is a key characteristic that is often weak in the classic embedded systems. Thus, the vision of cooperating objects and pervasive control arises from the convergence of these systems.
Figure 1: Cooperating Object Vision
This new vision has a profound impact on the research landscape, and it is not clear how to best approach it in a coordinated and efficient way. Thus, this Coordination Action project has short-term, middle-term and long-term goals as follow:
The Digital Technology Group (DTG), formerly Laboratory for Communication Engineering (LCE), is a research group within the Computer Laboratory, and continues to maintain close links with, and includes members of, the Engineering Department. This group is particularly well known for its work on pervasive, sentient and mobile computing systems. It also has extensive experience with a wide range of wireless networks, as well as with more esoteric network technologies. Industrial partners fund much of the work at the Laboratory. This close association with industry gives DTG the opportunity to put research ideas into practice.
The Active Badge and the more recent Active Bat high-precision location system (with its associated SPIRIT middleware for spatial indexing) were conceived and developed under Prof. Andy Hopper's supervision at the Olivetti (subsequently AT&T) Cambridge Laboratories. Furthermore, a software framework for handling and correlating location information derived from a variety of location-sensing technologies and systems has been developed (QoSDREAM). There is a substantial work within the DTG on (low-power) wireless data transmission systems and on security for ubiquitous systems and interactive techniques.
For more details, visit the Digital Technology Group (DTG) website.
Our main contributions to the WiSeNts project will be in the following tasks:
The objective of this task is to provide an in-depth study and classification/taxonomy of the state of the art in terms of basic and advanced paradigms for the design of algorithms and interaction patterns used in systems based on cooperating objects. Examples include algorithms that rely on service-centric and data-centric design principles. Part of this study will focus on algorithms that cover key aspects of these systems such as real-time, fault-tolerance, sensor data fusion, distributed control, self-organisation and adaptation. Thus, the main goal of this study is to identify the set of algorithms and architectures that act as the enabling platforms for the next generation of systems of cooperating objects.
Vertical system functions (VFs) in the context of this study are defined as the minimal functionality required by applications that is feasible to implement using vertical slices cutting through the architectural subsystems. This type of function can be regarded as the composition of a subset of the functionality presented in the design of each subsystem and its associated layers. For instance, whoever develops a communication subsystem will encounter key decisions to make. In particular, low-resource hardware platforms pose limitations such as low power radio that should be considered on the implementation phase.
This document attempts to identify the roles and effects of vertical system functions in the context of cooperating objects. Different types of VFs such as context and location management, system exception handling, communication and system energy management among others will be studied. Not only will this study provide an up to date discussion of proposed VF approaches but it will also point out avenues for future research.
While an in-depth study of applications will be developed in this project, this task attempts to explore application areas that could be potentially realised once all the basic cooperating object systems are in place. This is a visionary task as opposed to an analytical study.
To achieve this visionary goal, a close interaction with industrial partners will be necessary, mostly with the application developers but not excluding manufacturers. We expect that these partners will assist us in identifying important questions and challenges, while the participating researchers will provide their ambitious insights into the solution space. The deliverable of this task is a document that presents application visions along with their ethical, legal and social aspects.
After the completion of tasks that have identified the major economical, societal and technological driving forces, as well visionary applications and the most relevant state of the art, a research roadmap to achieve the full vision of cooperating objects will be developed. This task continues the work by developing a document that if followed will ensure the success of this vision in research and in practical technological adoption.
 Professor George Coulouris |
 Professor Andy Hopper FREng |
 Dr. Marcelo Pias |
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