Small logo of ETH main building ETH Zurich : Computer Science : Pervasive Computing : Distributed Systems : Research : Sensor Networks

Sensor Networks

A Research Topic of the Distributed Systems Group

Wireless networks of autonomous computing devices, each equipped with sensors, a wireless radio, and a processor, are envisioned to be deployed unobtrusively in the physical environment in order to monitor a wide range of environmental phenomena with unprecedented quality and scale. The close integration of sensor networks with the physical world imposes a number of challenging research problems.

We investigate these research questions in the framework of NCCR MICS, the National Center of Competence in Research on Mobile Information and Communication Systems. Together with other research groups at ETH Zurich we developed the BTnode system in an early phase of MICS, a hardware and software platform for sensor networks that forms an important experimental environment to validate and evaluate our research.

Later, we study novel programming paradigms to mitigate the complexity of sensor networks resulting from constrained resources and large, dynamic network topologies. In particular, we devise declarative specification techniques to program a sensor network as a whole at a high level of abstraction. Further, we investigate concepts and tools to facilitate the deployment of large-scale sensor networks for realistic applications. Motivated by the fact that in practice many sensor network deployments fail even though they have been extensively tested in the lab, we develop mechanisms for in-situ monitoring, debugging, and management of sensor networks on the deployment site. To validate our approaches, we also work on concrete applications such as a sensor network for monitoring noise pollution in urban environments.

Most recently, we are working on enabling thread-based programming for the resource-constrained devices employed in sensor networks. In contrast to the standard approach, we employ a compiler that translates thread-based programs into event-based programs. The results of our extensive evaluation show that this approach gives you the comfort of threads with very minimal resource overhead.

See also the following related items:

Participating Researchers

Matthias Kovatsch, Silvia Santini, Benedikt Ostermaier (until 2015), Alexander Bernauer (until 2012), Kay Römer (until 2012)

Selected Publications

See the Publications of the Distributed Systems Group page for a full listing of our publications.

Related Student Projects

The following table lists corresponding student projects in our group. Note that some descriptions will be in German.

TypeTitleStudentSupervisorSemester
L Reliable Low-Power Environmental Monitoring Infrastructure Thomas FrickLeyna SadamoriHS 17
B A Scalable and Reliable Infrastructure for Environmental Monitoring Adrian SeiterleLeyna SadamoriHS 17
L Automatic Topology Estimation in Wireless Lamp Networks Moritz Hoffmann,
Claudio Gargiulo
Gábor SörösFS 12
M Semantic Web for enhanced autonomy in sensor networks Michael HänniVlad TrifaHS 08
S Remote Programming of Wireless Sensor Networks Sebastian GrösslSilvia SantiniFS 08
M Passive Distributed Assertions Philippe Jacot-GuillarmodKay RömerFS 08
M Towards the Sensor Web: A Framework for Sensor Data Acquisition, Storage and Visualization Daniel RauchSilvia SantiniWS 07/08
M Ranking Sensors with Prediction Models Maryam ElahiKay RömerWS 07/08
S Effizienter Firmware-Update in Sensornetzen Ronney MeierJonas Wolf,
Matthias Ringwald
HS 07
S Implementation und Test eines Ad-hoc-Routingprotokolls für das Chipcon-Interface der BTnodes Florian SchützBenedikt OstermaierSS 06
M Inspektion von Sensornetzen Marc CortesiMatthias RingwaldSS 06
M Implementierung und Evaluation eines neuen Medienzugriffsverfahren für Sensornetze Michael KaufmannMatthias RingwaldWS 05/06
S Inspektion von Sensornetzen per PDA Mustafa YuecelMatthias RingwaldSS 05
M Intrusion Detection and Failure Recovery in Sensor Networks Mario StrasserHarald VogtSS 05
M Query Services for the Sensor Internet Philipp BolligerChristian Frank,
Christof Roduner
SS 05
M Multipfad-Protokolle zur sicheren Kommunikation in Ad-Hoc und Sensornetzen Claudio MunariHarald VogtSS 05
L Sensorbasierte Anwendungen mit BTnodes III Ronney Meier,
Dejan Pilav
Marc Langheinrich,
Harald Vogt
SS 05
L Sensorbasierte Anwendungen mit BTnodes II Henrique Sauberli,
Marc Bühler
Marc Langheinrich,
Harald Vogt
SS 05
L Sensorbasierte Anwendungen mit BTnodes IV Beat Schwarzentrub,
Raffael Bachmann
Marc Langheinrich,
Harald Vogt
SS 05
L Sensorbasierte Anwendungen mit BTnodes I Ilario Musio,
Bettina Polasek
Marc Langheinrich,
Harald Vogt
SS 05
S Schlüsselvereinbarung in Sensornetzen Patrick Moor,
Mario Strasser
Harald VogtWS 04/05
M Weiterentwicklung eines Systems zur automatischen Konfiguration drahtloser Sensornetze André BayerChristian FrankWS 04/05
D Automatische Konfiguration drahtloser Sensornetze Oliver BieriChristian Frank,
Kay Römer
WS 04/05
ETH ZurichDistributed Systems Group
Last updated January 1 1970 01:00:00 AM MET ko