[Tinyos Core WG] testbeds TEP

[Jan Beutel]

hello all,

i started a rough draft of a testbeds tep. i just wanted to share this
with everyone until we get a TEP number and i can check it in properly
to CVS. (how do we actually get a TEP number? phil are you the lord of
numbers?)

discussion about this will be on tinyos-testbed-wg.

these are only very preliminary ideas. for sure there will be another
tep on actual development and testing (at a later date).

oh and btw. i added a make target "pdf" in the tinyos-2.x/doc directory
to actually make pdflatex from the rst files.
 
best,

jan



-- 
Dr. Jan Beutel                              j.beutel at ieee.org
Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory, ETZ G75
ETH Zurich                             +41 44 632 70 32 Phone
Gloriastrasse 35                         +41 44 632 10 35 Fax
CH 8092 Zurich/Switzerland  http://www.tik.ee.ethz.ch/~beutel
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=================================
Testbeds - Setup and Interfaces
=================================

:TEP: 1xx
:Group: Testbeds Working Group 
:Type: Documentary
:Status: Draft
:TinyOS-Version: All
:Author: Jan Beutel

:Draft-Created: 14-Jun-2007
:Draft-Version: $Revision: 1.6 $
:Draft-Modified: $Date: 2007/05/29 22:23:55 $
:Draft-Discuss: TinyOS Testbed WG <tinyos-testbed-wg at eecs.harvard.edu>>

.. Note::

   This document specifies a Best Current Practices for the
   TinyOS Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract
====================================================================

This memo describes the structure and interfaces required for TinyOS compliant 
testbeds. 

1. Introduction
====================================================================
The testing and validation of embedded code on real hardware is key to 
successful development of TinyOS applications. Although popular and powerful for 
high level analysis, current simulation methods lack in terms of level of 
detail and accuracy when used accross multiple system layers where abstractions 
and models used are inherently imperfect and impair results. Methods such as 
hardware emulation commonly used in embedded system development allow the 
execution of code on a hardware platform and therefore can guarantee timing but 
are very limited in terms of scalability and often confined to a lab usage only.

Sensor network testbeds try to overcome these deficiencies by allowing to execute 
software code under realistic operating conditions on real hardware embedded in 
a target environment. This approach allows to generate a level of detail especially 
in respect to the whole system (radio. processor, storage, sensors, interfaces) 
and the wireless environment (noise, fading, shading, errors, failures) while 
maintaining a certain degree of scalability. Remote programming as well as a 
feedback of status and debugging information from the nodes using testbed 
infrastructure alleviates the need for integrated services in sensor network 
applications. Additionally testbeds allow to operate a set of nodes in a 
controlled environment, i.e. using temperature variations or a controlled 
wireless environment. 

A typical testbed is made up of a number of nodes (?do we state amounts here?) 
connected to a central resource for control and logging that are deployed in a 
physical space (testing area). Typically the central resource is a server with 
integrated datalogging capability.

MISSING: Difference of a testbed vs. a desktop test (e.g. single nodes with a 
programmer or a simple usb grid)

Examples of current sensor network testbeds are MoteLab [1_] and the 
Deployment-Support Network [2_].


2. Testbed Usage
====================================================================

Modes of Operation:

- Single Shot

- Continuous Integration

- Long Term Operation (Profiling)

Other Topics:

- Federated Testbeds (in multiple environments)

- Access/Resource Arbitration


3. Testbed Services
====================================================================

- identification of target devices (presence, type, hw rev)
- programming of target devices
- resetting of target devices
- logging of target response
- versioning/identification of uploaded software 
- identification/versioning/archiving of testing jobs

- testbed status information
- identification of testbed services
- authentification


4. Implementation
====================================================================

- Server, DB/Storage, Interface XMLRPC

- Connection fabric

- On- and offline logging

- Supplied Power

- Mote Hardware


THINGS TO DISCUSS

- ?Do we state minimum requirements?
- number of nodes
- power supply (fixed/batt)
- power profiling
- power on/off of targets? is simple reset/erasing enough?
- feedback channel capabilities (delay, errors, lost packets...)
- target control? is control of (writing to) targets required or is it an optional feature?
- scheduling of actions (time synched???)


5. Reference
====================================================================



6. Acknowledgments
====================================================================



7. Author's Address
====================================================================

| Jan Beutel
| Gloriastr 35
| ETH Zurich
| 8092 Zurich
| Switzerland
|
| phone - +41 44 632 7032
|
| email - j.beutel at ieee.org

8. Citations
====================================================================

.. [1] G. Werner-Allen, P. Swieskowski, and M. Welsh. MoteLab: A wireless sensor
 network testbed. In Proc. 4th Int'l Conf. Information Processing Sensor 
 Networks (IPSN '05), pages 483-488. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, April 2005.

.. [2] M. Dyer, J. Beutel, L. Thiele, T. Kalt, P. Oehen, K. Martin, and P. Blum.
 Deployment support network - a toolkit for the development of WSNs. In Proc. 
 4th European Workshop on Sensor Networks (EWSN 2007), volume 4373 of Lecture 
 Notes in Computer Science, pages 195-211. Springer, Berlin, January 2007.
 

Appendix A. Example Appendix
====================================================================

This is an example appendix. Appendices begin with the letter A.