Conception and implementation of a framework for replication strategies in sensor networks
Conception and implementation of a framework for replication strategies in sensor networks
Background
Measurement tasks with sensor networks where the base station is not permanently connected to the sensor network (e.g. volcano or glacier monitoring) require the measured values to be stored in the network until the data is retrieved. Since the probability of errors within sensor networks is greater than in classic wired systems, the measurement data must be replicated in the sensor network. Data replication is used to minimise the possibility of access failures to urgently required data (high access availability), but also to reduce access times to this data. However, the resources required to generate sufficient redundancy are only available to a limited extent in sensor networks. While energy plays a subordinate role in classic wired systems, it is the decisive factor for the service life of the entire network in sensor networks. One simulator that specialises in sensor networks is TOSSIM, which was specially developed for the TinyOS sensor network operating system. With the PowerTOSSIMz extension, it is possible to simulate the energy consumption of network protocols and thus determine the service life of the sensor nodes. However, special replication methods for sensor networks do not yet exist, meaning that existing replication methods for wired systems have to be adapted to sensor networks.
Job description
The task to be solved within the scope of the thesis is the analytical and simulative investigation of various known replication methods with the aim of determining their energy consumption and availability in sensor networks. For this purpose, known replication methods (e.g. quorum-based) must be implemented/adapted prototypically in the TOSSIM/ PowerTOSSIMz simulator and analysed. The architecture of the implementation should be chosen in such a way that the replication method can be easily replaced.