Experiences from two sensor network deployments: self-monitoring and self-configuration keys to success

Abstract

Despite sensor network protocols being self-configuring, sensor network deployments continue to fail. We report our experience from two recently deployed IP-based multi-hop sensor networks: one in-door surveillance network in a factory complex and a combined out-door and in-door surveillance network. Our experiences highlight that adaptive protocols alone are not sufficient, but that an approach to self-monitoring and self-configuration that covers more aspects than protocol adaptation is needed. Based on our experiences, we design and implement an architecture for self-monitoring of sensor nodes. We show that the self-monitoring architecture detects and prevents the problems with false alarms encountered in our deployments. The architecture also detects software bugs by monitoring actual and expected duty-cycle of key components of the sensor node. We show that the energy-monitoring architecture detects bugs that cause the radio chip to be active longer than expected.