Completed by Eike Baran in September 2015.

Sensor plants are distributed computing systems in which the individual
computers consist of autonomous, usually battery-operated microcomputers
that can exchange information with the other microcomputers via a wireless connection
. Almost any number of sensors (such as ultrasound or brightness and
temperature or microphones) and actuators such as loudspeakers can be attached to these so-called sensor nodes
and operated
. Sensor networks can be used to observe and support autonomously
distributed phenomena, e.g. a
brightness distribution over a region, the intrusion and movement
of subjects in an area, but also the continuous transmission and
reception of messages from individual sensor nodes that move relative to
other sensor nodes in the sensor network. The department
System Software and Distributed Systems has 120+ sensor nodes
of the type MTM-CM5000-MSP with TI MSP430 processor, which can be used for such
purposes.

The main task of the work consists of the conceptualisation and
implementation of sensor nodes, which must be equipped with a microphone and
loudspeaker (or earphones) as well as the necessary buttons
in order to enable "walky-talky" type use among
each other. They should be supported by a sensor network
in terms of infrastructure. In total, the following
functionalities are to be provided: 1) radio communication
directly between two "walky-talky" sensor nodes, 2)
radio communication by means of forwarding through the sensor network
between two "walky-talky" sensor nodes, 3) dialling any
"walky-talky" sensor node from a second one. The
"Walky-Talky" sensor nodes should be able to move freely within the
sensor network during a conversation. Depending on the task,
further "system services" can be designed and implemented,
e.g. 5) the connection to a SIP-capable softphone on a
gateway computer, 6) an announcement or signalling option to
a group or all "Walky-Talky" sensor nodes. Your own
ideas are expressly welcome.

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Theel