GINSENG Partners
Research on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has mainly been focused on protocols and architectures for applications in which network performance assurances are not considered essential, such as agriculture and environmental monitoring. However, for many important areas, such as plant automation and health monitoring, performance assurances are crucial, especially for metrics such as delay and reliability. The GINSENG project plans a significant advance beyond the state-of-the-art by developing a novel performance controlled WSN that is targeted for use in a range of industrial environments. In such environments, WSN technology should result in significant savings in deployment and maintenance costs, and offers easy reconfiguration and rapid deployment in adapting to changing business needs. The overall goal of GINSENG is a wireless sensor network that will meet application-specific performance targets, and that will be proven in a real industry setting where performance is critical.
The GINSENG goal requires several innovations and a fresh approach to wireless sensor network research. Firstly, GINSENG adopts a planned approach for sensor node deployment as a basis to enable performance control. The second basis of GINSENG is software components with assured performance, including operating systems and protocols for radio medium access. The third basis of GINSENG is a set of algorithms that ensure control with respect to network topology and traffic. These three components enable the possibility to deploy sensor networks with assured performance. Recognising the inherent uncertainties of the real-world, GINSENG will also provide mechanisms and tools to perform performance debugging of deployed systems.
To encourage exploitation of the research outputs, GINSENG will integrate with industry IT systems, a proposition strengthened by the participation of SAP as a partner. The applicability of the technology developed in GINSENG will be proven by developing a wireless sensor network for a real-world application where performance is critical – in the context of an oil refinery run by GINSENG partner Petrogal, where it will be used to monitor and control industrial processes, safety and pollution.
The overall scientific objectives of GINSENG are to provide WSN technology that:
I. meets application-specific performance targets, (WP1, WP2)
II. integrates with industry resource management systems, (WP3)
III. is proven in a real industrial setting where performance is critical. (WP4)
Therefore, the following specific objectives are targeted:
1. Identification of the constraints and factors affecting the provision of assured performance (WP1)
2. Investigation of different approaches for providing controlled performance, such as topology control, overload control and resource allocation mechanisms aimed to keeping the WSN operational within specified bounds (WP1)
3. Development of software components offering assured performance while optimizing energy consumption (WP2). These components include:
a. real-time node operating systems.
b. MAC techniques providing assured access to the radio medium.
c. Congestion control and traffic management.
4. Design WSN planning and deployment methods as well as mechanisms and tools for performance debugging and reconfiguration of deployed systems (WP2)
5. Integration of such performance controlled WSN with industry resource management systems by development of a middleware to bridge the gap between low level monitoring and backend application systems (WP3)
6. Realization of prototypes allowing for demonstration and evaluation in a refinery scenario (WP4). |
