snBench: the Sensor Network WorkBench

SNBench: the Sensor Network WorkBench

Overview

We anticipate the emergence of a new generation of Sensor Networks (SNs) that are embedded into both public and private, managed physical spaces. These SNs will consist of a collection of heterogeneous computers, sensors and actuators that must be pooled into a single, dynamically tasked composite resource. This resource must be accessible to any "novice" user who may wish to dynamically submit new sensing tasks for immediate execution, and these new tasks may have conflicting goals with respect to those tasks already in execution. The SN infrastructure must insulate the user from all scheduling, deployment and management concerns, in effect presenting each user with his or her own "private" abstract, Virtual SN. To achieve this goal we offer the snBench (SN Workbench), an accessible, flexible, and extensible programming platform and run-time infrastructure for the development of distributed sensing applications that run on the VSNs it creates.

Chapters in Books

Programming and Virtualization of Distributed Multitasking Sensor Networks
Azer Bestavros and Michael Ocean. In Insup Lee, Joseph Leung, and Sang Son, editors.
Handbook of Real-Time and Embedded Systems, chapter 23. CRC Press, 2007.

Publications

"A Formal Type-Centric Framework for Verification and Resource Allocation in Pervasive Sense-and-Respond Systems" Michael Ocean, Assaf Kfoury and Azer Bestavros
In Proceedings of the Sixth ICSE Workshop on Model-based Methodologies for Pervasive and Embedded Software, (MOMPES 2009), Vancouver, Canada, May 2009.
"Wireless and Physical Security via Embedded Sensor Networks"
Michael Ocean and Azer Bestavros
In Proceedings of the First ACM Conference on Wireless Network Security (WiSec 2008), Alexandria, VA, April 2008.
(Best Paper Award).
"snBench: Programming and Virtualization Framework for Distributed Multitasking Sensor Networks"
Michael Ocean, Azer Bestavros and Assaf Kfoury
In Proceedings of the Second Int'l Conference on Virtual Execution Environments (VEE 2006), Ottowa, Canada, June 2006.
"snBench: A Development and Run-Time Platform for Rapid Deployment of Sensor Network Applications."
Azer Bestavros, Adam Bradley, Assaf Kfoury and Michael Ocean
In Proceedings of the IEEE Int'l Workshop on Broadband Advanced Sensor Networks (Basenets 2005), Boston, MA, October 2005.

Technical Reports

"Lightweight Formal Methods for the Development of High-Assurance Networking Systems"
Assaf Kfoury
Technical Report BUCS-TR-2009-035, Computer Science Department, Boston University, December 1, 2009.
"The Sensor Network Workbench: Towards Functional Specification, Verification And Deployment Of Constrained Distributed Systems."
Michael Ocean.
PhD Thesis BUCS-TR-2008-020, CS Department, Boston University, September 10, 2008.
"A Type System For Safe SN Resource Allocation."
Michael Ocean, Assaf Kfoury, and Azer Bestavros.
Technical Report BUCS-TR-2008-011, CS Department, Boston University, June 14 2008.
"Integrating Sensor-Network Research and Development into a Software Engineering Curriculum."
Michael Ocean, Assaf Kfoury, and Azer Bestavros.
Technical Report BUCS-TR-2006-016, CS Department, Boston University, July 14 2006.
"Computational Properties of SNAFU."
Yarom Gabay, Michael Ocean, Assaf Kfoury, and Likai Liu.
Technical Report BUCS-TR-2006-001, CS Department, Boston University, February 6 2006.

Presentations

National Science Foundation (NSF), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate, Computing Research Infrastructure (CRI) program meeting (NSF CRI'07 PI meeting), June 2007.
- Poster 1 (an overview of snBench) : [link]
- Poster 2 (snBench Case Studies : Wireless Network Security & Floor-Plan Flow Analysis) : [link]
BU Center for Information and Systems Engineering Sensor Network Consortium (SNC), November 2006. Poster: [link]
Boston University Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) Research Open House

March 2007. Poster: [link]

March 2006. Poster: [link]
(a stand-alone, text heavy version of the above: [link])

BU Operating Systems and Services (BOSS), January 2006. Slides: [link]
IEEE Basenets, 2005. Slides: [link]
Sensorium Research Group, May 2005. Slides: [link]

snBench in the Classroom

The snBench project has been used as a teaching platform and the basis for the final group project for a graduate course in Software Engineering (CS511). The websites for this collaboration (which include detailed documentation, examples and a snapshot of the snBench source code) and a Technical Report about this effort are linked below.

Spring 2008:
- Software Engineering (CS511) Web-site [link]
- snBench Project Details [link]
Spring 2007:
- Software Engineering (CS511) Web-site [link]
- snBench Project Details [link]
Spring 2006:
- Software Engineering (CS511) Web-site [link]
- snBench Project Details [link]
- TR: "Integrating Sensor-Network Research and Development into a Software Engineering Curriculum." [link]

Live Demonstration

Clients within the BU network may connect to live development hosts to see the components of the snBench in action. However, as is the case with any development environment, these resources may be taken down periodically for updates and maintenance. A demo for external clients is coming soon.

People

Michael Ocean (graduated)
Azer Bestavros
Assaf Kfoury
Adam Bradley (graduated)

Sponsors

The snBench initiative is supported partially by a number of National Science Foundation grants, including CISE/CSR Award #0720604, ENG/EFRI Award #0735974, CISE/CNS Award #0524477, CNS/NeTS Award #0520166, CNS/ITR Award #0205294, and CISE/EIA RI Award #0202067.

Related Work at BU

This work is part of the larger iBench initiative,
and the Sensorium infrastructure initiative at BU.

WING Research Group
Computer Science Department
Boston University

Michael Ocean
Created: 3/28/06
Updated: 12/23/09

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in materials available from this site are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boston University or of the National Science Foundation.