IDRA: A flexible system architecture for next generation wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks consist of embedded devices (sensor nodes), equipped with a low-power radio. They are used for many applications: from wireless building automation to e-health applications. However, due to the limited capabilities of sensor nodes, designing network protocols for these constrained devices is currently very challenging. Therefore, this paper presents the IDRA platform: an information driven architecture designed to support next-generation applications on resource constrained networked objects. IDRA supports simple but useful optimizations at an architectural level. These include support for cross-protocol interactions, energy efficiency optimizations, QoS optimizations (packet priorities, dynamic protocol selection), mobility support and heterogeneous network support. The paper shows how the development of protocols is improved by using an architecture which delegates specific tasks to a central system, decreasing the memory requirements of associated network protocols. A thorough experimental performance analysis demonstrates that IDRA is much more scalable in terms of memory requirements, energy requirements and processing overhead than traditional system architectures. Finally, the paper discusses how the optimizations presented in this paper can be used for the clean-slate design of architectures for other wireless or wired network types.