Seminar System Architecture and Networking (2IN95)

1st semester 2009/2010

Intended for:
Computer Science & Engineering Master, 2nd year
Embedded Systems Master, 1st year

Introduction

With this seminar the SAN group continues the practice of addressing the latest developments in the system and software architecture and networking areas, which did not yet find a place in the regular curriculum. We want to involve students in ongoing research, and give them practical training in presenting material, scientific writing and studying the literature. This course is especially intended for students that want to graduate in a certain discipline.

Previous topics were transport protocols, wireless networks and software architecture.

This year and last year the topic of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) will be studied. This is a topic that attracts more and more adepts although its introduction into our society is still a couple of years away. We expect to retain this topic for one or two more years.

Course objectives (contentwise)

Knowledge Students understand the aspects where WSNs differ from standard Local Area Networks. They understand the constraints coming from the low cost, low performance, low energy consumption of the nodes on the one hand, and the scale of the network expressed in the number of nodes on the other hand.

Capabilities Students are capable of separating the possibly conflicting aspects of the WSN design. They have a clear insight how the nodes of a WSN need to be programmed to create lightweight programs that collaborate massively to one shared purpose. They can choose the appropriate abstractions, as a function of the application and network characteristics. They have obtained experience in actually programming a collection of sensor nodes.

Course objective (field)

The students have become acquainted with typical issues in the System Architecture and Networking field. They can study scientific literature and have improved writing skills.

Organization

There will be a set of regular, weekly lectures accompanied with a practical assignment. Students write a scientific paper and present their practical work. Passing is through a oral exam, the practical, the paper and the presentation. In order to take this course you must register. Registration will be through this site.

Registration

Via studyweb, at https://studyweb2.tue.nl course 2IN95, you can register in one of the groups. The first course date is still unclear.

Teachers, and other persons involved

prof. dr. J.J. Lukkien, j.j.lukkien@tue.nl,

dr. ir. P.H.F.M. Verhoeven, p.h.f.m.verhoeven@tue.nl,

ir. R.P. Bosman, r.p.bosman@tue.nl

Agenda

The course is scheduled on Thursdays, 3rd and 4th hour, in Laplace building, room -1.19.

Examination

All parts are mandatory.

Paper

The paper will either be based on studying some given papers, or on writing about a given research question. We expect teams of 2 persons here.

The paper consists of 6-8 pages, normal margins, 11pt. and is combined with a presentation of 25 minutes (roughly 10 slides).

Practical

The practical amounts to exercises with the BSN kits. The OSAS system, its toolchain and bridging software will be used to perform the exercises. We expect to have collaboration with research projects of SAN, and that you do the practical in teams of 2-4 persons.

Lectures, programme

Lectures are given by the students(!) based on slides belonging to the book, according to the schedule given below. The student names will be filled in during the first lecture, and the schedule might change depending on the number of participants. Note: the slides are only accessible from within the TU/e domain! If you have problems accessing the slides, contact mr. Verhoeven

Week 1 Introduction to the course structureIntro
(3-9) Overview of components of WSN. Node CPUs, transceiver, energy consumptionch1 (by Johan)
 
Week 2  No lecture.
(10-9)    
 
Week 3  Network architecturech3
(17-9)  Physical layerch4
 
Week 4  MAC protocols ch5
(24-9)  Doing research(by Johan)
 
Week 5  Link layer, energy consumption of protocols, error controlch6
(1-10)  Naming, addressingch7
 
Week 6  Time synchronizationch8
(8-10)
 
Week 7 Localization and positioningch9
 Data centric program paradime ch12
(15-10)
 
Week 8 Topology controlch10
(22-10)
 
Week 9 Routingch11
(12-11)  
 
Week 10 Transport layer and QoSch13
(19-11) 
 
Week 11 Presentation on local development toolchain(by Remi & Richard)
(26-11)
 
Week 12 Presentation of research papers
(3-12) 
 
Week 13 Presentation of research papers
(10-12) 
 
Week 14 Presentation of research papers 
(17-12) 
 
Week 15 Feedback on exercisesAll
  
During November and December, it is possible to work on the exercises. The location and schedule is determined in due time.

Literature

Obligatory is the book: Holger Karl, Andreas Willig, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks,

ISBN-13 978-0-470-09510-2, Wiley, 2006

To prepare your presentation, a copy of the book is available at HG 5.23.

We will be posting literature we think is useful here. Searching for this topic online yields a lot of information, including course sites of other universities. The online archives of IEEE and ACM are very useful. A small local archive is available for students.