Software Framework for Sensor Network Design

The Problem

As sensor networks grow in scale, as does the complexity of the software that drives it. Software networks often contain a range of operating systems and associated development tools which makes software development more complex as many interfaces must be implemented (in addition to the core functionality). Adding to the difficulty is the proliferation of APIs which increases software dependencies and makes software maintenance more complex.

Our Solution

The creation of a software development framework that addresses these problems will enable rapid development of reliable sensor networks. By using a pipeline-style architecture, a single unified sensor network can be distributed over many computing hosts that range from large servers to small device controllers.

Network topology can be constructed statically or dynamically and data connections can be made between any pipeline blocks in the network, no matter where they are, using a consistent language syntax. The details of connections and data transfer are handled transparently behind the scenes. The framework is designed to be fast, with only a handful of dependencies and is written in C++. One or more user interface blocks can be connected into the network at any point, with the client side free to use any format and programming language, although it must support Websockets. A generic UI client, that runs in a standard browser on any platform, is provided.

This framework will be a useful tool for the FSP in the rapid development of reliable sensor networks.

Collaborators

This project is lead by Andrew Tulloh.