We consider configuration of wireless sensor networks, where certain functions must be automatically assigned to sensor nodes, such that the properties of a sensor node (e.g., remaining energy, network neighbors) match the requirements of the assigned function. Essentially, sensor nodes take on certain roles in the network as a result of configuration. To help developers with such configuration tasks for a variety of applications, we propose generic role assignment as a programming abstraction, where roles and rules for their assignment can be easily specified using a configuration language. We present such a role specification language and distributed algorithms for role assignment according to such specifications. We evaluate our approach and show that efficient and robust generic role assignment is practically feasible for wireless sensor networks.

In the last years, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have gained increasing attention from both the research community and actual users. As sensor nodes are generally battery-powered devices, the critical aspects to face concern how to reduce the energy consumption of nodes, so that the network lifetime can be extended to reasonable times. In this paper we first break down the energy consumption for the components of a typical sensor node, and discuss the main directions to energy conservation in WSNs. Then, we present a systematic and comprehensive taxonomy of the energy conservation schemes, which are subsequently discussed in depth. Special attention has been devoted to promising solutions which have not yet obtained a wide attention in the literature, such as techniques for energy efficient data acquisition. Finally we conclude the paper with insights for research directions about energy conservation in WSNs.

Abstract. Distance-bounding protocols aim to prevent an adversary from pretending that two parties are physically closer than they really are. We show that proposed distance-bounding protocols of Hu, Perrig and Johnson (2003), Sastry, Shankar and Wagner (2003), and Čapkun and Hubaux (2005, 2006) are vulnerable to a guessing attack where the malicious prover preemptively transmits guessed values for a number of response bits. We also show that communication channels not optimized for minimal latency imperil the security of distance-bounding protocols. The attacker can exploit this to appear closer himself or to perform a relaying attack against other nodes. We describe attack strategies to achieve this, including optimizing the communication protocol stack, taking early decisions as to the value of received bits and modifying the waveform of transmitted bits. We consider applying distance-bounding protocols to constrained devices and evaluate existing proposals for distance bounding in ad hoc networks. 1

Autonomic Computing is a concept that brings together many fields of computing with the purpose of creating computing systems that self-manage. In its early days it was criticised as being a “hype topic” or a rebadging of some Multi Agent Systems work. In this survey, we hope to show that this was not indeed ’hype ’ and that, though it draws on much work already carried out by the Computer Science and Control communities, its innovation is strong and lies in its robust application to the specific self-management of computing systems. To this end, we first provide an introduction to the motivation and concepts of autonomic computing and describe some research that has been seen as seminal in influencing a large proportion of early work. Taking the components of an established reference model in turn, we discuss the works that have provided significant contributions to that area. We then look at larger scaled systems that compose autonomic systems illustrating the hierarchical nature of their architectures. Autonomicity is not a well defined subject and as such different systems adhere to different degrees of Autonomicity, therefore we cross-slice the body of work in terms of these degrees. From this we list the key applications of autonomic computing and discuss the research work that is missing and what we believe the community should be considering.

Abstract — Sensor networks are a flavor of ad hoc wireless networks with limited computational capabilities. The task to protect such networks against misbehavior is therefore more complicated as any detection mechanism has to be simple and efficient. We employed mechanisms based on Artificial immune systems (AIS) in order to detect misbehavior. We conclude that AIS based misbehavior detection offers a decent detection performance at a very low computational cost. We show that misbehavior detection when applied at both the MAC and network layers may still not be sufficient, instead it will be necessary to extend it to layers with end-to-end connection information; this would also allow for classifying misbehavior by its potential to cause harm. These results have a direct impact on the design of AIS for sensor networks and on engineering of sensor networks. I.

Abstract. We present a sensor network query processing architecture that covers all the query optimization phases that are required to map a declarative query to executable code. The architecture is founded on the view that a sensor network truly is a distributed computing infrastructure, albeit a very constrained one. As such, we address the problem of how to develop a comprehensive optimizer for an expressive declarative continuous query language over acquisitional streams as one of finding extensions to classical distributed query processing techniques that contend with the peculiarities of sensor networks as an environment for distributed computing. 1

Abstract. For the proper design of energy-efficient error control schemes some insight into channel error patterns is needed. This paper presents bit error and packet loss measurements taken with sensor nodes running the popular RFM TR 1001 wireless transceiver. Some key facts from the measurements are presented and it is evaluated, how energy-efficient selected combined forward error correction (FEC) and automatic repeat request (ARQ) schemes would be over the measured channel. One interesting result is that FEC schemes are less energy-efficient than schemes without FEC, even when the additional energy required to decode a packet is not considered. On the other hand, the energy-efficiency can be improved when retransmissions are postponed for a short time. 1

Abstract not found

WIRELESS technologies are nowadays in widespread use, with cellular telephony and wireless Internet access being two of the major driving forces behind this. Using wireless technologies in industrial and factory automation is also very attractive for many reasons. The wireless way of communicating makes plant setup and modification easier, cheaper and more flexible. It provides a natural approach towards communication with mobile equipment where wires are in constant danger of breaking. It enables new applications where wireless transmission is the only option, e.g., measurements and control of rotating or highly mobile devices, and provides a novel approach to existing applications, e.g., localization and tracking of goods. Furthermore, tasks like machine diagnosis and maintenance can be greatly simplified by equipping the maintenance personnel with wireless terminals.

The appliance of wireless sensor networks to a broad variety of applications doubtlessly requires end-user acceptance. End-users from various computer network unrelated disciplines like for example from the agriculture sector, geography, health care, or biology will only use wireless sensor networks to support their daily work if the overall benefit beats the overhead when getting in touch with this new paradigm. This does first and foremost mean that, once the WSN is deployed, it is easy to collect data also for a technical unexperienced audience. However, the trust in the system’s confidentiality and its reliability should not be underestimated. Since for end-users from various disciplines the monitored data are of highest value they will only apply WSN technology to their professional activities if a proper and safe access control mechanism to the WSN is ensured. For FIPS 140-02 level 2 or level 3 conform sensor devices we provide an access control protocol for end-users of civilian WSN applications that i) ensures access to the monitored data only for authorised parties, ii) supports user-friendly data queries and iii) is DoS resilient to save the sensor nodes’ battery capacity.