MacZ: QoS MAC Layer for Dependable Adaptive Wireless Sensor Networks

Project Topic

Assessment of MacZ - The QoS MAC Layer for Dependable Adaptive Wireless Sensor Networks

Project Description

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been identified as one of the key technologies for the 21st century. WSNs are self-organizing adaptive systems that bridge the gap between physical and digital world. Current WSNs are not predictable in their performance behaviour as this has not been the focus of current research, which is very much centred on the self-organization and adaptivity requirements for WSNs. Yet, we believe that the future success of WSNs will crucially depend on this predictability of performance characteristics such that WSNs may really become dependable systems on which critical or at least important functions and services can be built. Hence, we turn our attention to dependable adaptive wireless sensor networks.

This project builds on and extends existing research activities already carried out by the research partners. The Networked Systems Group is developing a quality-of-service (QoS)- capable medium access control layer for ad-hoc and sensor networks called MacZ, and is building on simulation techniques for the assessment of network performance. The Distributed Computer Systems Lab has proposed an analytical framework for performance modelling of WSNs called Sensor Network Calculus (SNC). The idea of the project is to lead these two research streams together, since they are not only complementing each other well, but also promise a high synergy potential. The goal therefore is to assess the performance behaviour of MacZ both analytically and by simulations. While it is obvious that the ultimate goal of dependable adaptive WSNs goes beyond what can be performed in the time frame of this project, we consider it a significant and crucial step in this direction.

Project Members

Project Chair

• Prof. Dr. Reinhard Gotzhein
• Prof. Dr. Jens B. Schmitt

Participating Research Groups

• University of Kaiserslautern, Networked Systems Group
• University of Kaiserslautern, Distributed Computer Systems Lab

Scientific Personnel

• Christiane Bortoleto, Distributed Computer Systems Lab
• Nicos Gollan, Distributed Computer Systems Lab / Networked Systems Group
• Thomas Kuhn, Networked Systems Group
• Wint Yi Poe, Distributed Computer Systems Lab
• Frank Zdarsky, Distributed Computer Systems Lab

External Cooperation

• Prof. Dr. Yuming Jiang (NTNU Trondheim, Norway)
• Dr. Markus Fidler (University of Toronto, Canada)

Project Events and Achievements

Project Time Frame

1. September 2006 - 31. December 2007

• In October 2006, the project was started with a kick-off meeting
• By December 2006, problem analysis has shown the key problems

Current Status

Currently, research is going on to refine the pessimistic bounds found by application of network calculus under the specifications of the MacZ protocol.

Project Publications

On the TDMA Design Problem Under Real-Time Constraints in Wireless Sensor Networks

Nicos Gollan, Jens B. Schmitt. Technical Report, Number 359/2007, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, June, 2007

An Ambient Intelligence System to Assist Team Training and Competition in Cycling

I. Fliege, Alexander Geraldy, Reinhard Gotzhein, T. Jaitner, Thomas Kuhn. In: ISEA 2006. July, 2006

On the Way to a Distributed Systems Calculus: An End-to-End Network Calculus with Data Scaling

Markus Fidler, Jens B. Schmitt. In: ACM SIGMETRICS/Performance 2006. ACM, June, 2006

MacZ -- A QoS MAC Layer for Ambient Intelligence Systems

Thomas Kuhn. In: Pervasive 2006, Dublin, Ireland. May, 2006

Sensor Network Calculus with Multiple Sinks

Jens B. Schmitt, Frank Zdarsky, Utz Roedig. In: IFIP Networking 2006, Workshop on Performance Control in Wireless Sensor Networks. LNCS, Springer, May, 2006

Performance Bounds in Feed-Forward Networks under Blind Multiplexing

Jens B. Schmitt, Frank Zdarsky, Ivan Martinovic. Technical Report, Number 394/06, University of Kaiserslautern, University of Kaiserslautern, April, 2006

Cross-Layer Integration in Ad-Hoc Networks with Enhanced Best-Effort Quality-of-Service Guarantees

Christian Webel, I. Fliege, Alexander Geraldy, Reinhard Gotzhein, Marc Krämer. In: World Telecommunications Congress 2006 (WTC 2006). April, 2006

Sensor Network Calculus -- A Framework for Worst Case Analysis

Jens B. Schmitt, Utz Roedig. In: IEEE/ACM International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS'05). LNCS, Number 3560, Springer, P. 141-154, June, 2005

Worst Case Dimensioning of Wireless Sensor Networks under Uncertain Topologies

Jens B. Schmitt, Utz Roedig. In: 3rd International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt'05). IEEE, April, 2005

ns+SDL . The Network Simulator for SDL Systems

Thomas Kuhn, Alexander Geraldy, Reinhard Gotzhein, F. Rothländer. In: Andreas Prinz, Rick Reed, Jeanne Reed ed., SDL 2005: Model Driven. LNCS, Volume 3530, Springer, P. 103--116, 2005

Micro Protocol Based Design of a Highly Adaptive and Integrated QoS MAC layer for Ambient Intelligence Systems

Thomas Kuhn, I. Fliege. Technical Report, University of Kaiserslautern, University of Kaiserslautern, 2005