Sensor Network Lab Exercises

Short Description
For these exercises, MicaZ motes and an altered TinyOS tutorial were used. The first. exercise is about uploading a simple blink program to one mote. …

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Content
Figure 1: CntToRfm sends to RmfToLeds
(Lab Exercise 2)
Sensor Network Lab Exercises
Using TinyOS and MicaZ Motes
Chris Allick, John Charnas, Alex Hickman, Jens Mache
Computer Science Department
Lewis & Clark College
Portland OR, USA
Abstract - MIT Technology Review lists sensor networks as one of “Ten Emerging
Technologies That Will Change the World” [1]. This paper outlines three exercises that
are suitable for activity-driven teaching of sensor networks to undergraduate students.
For these exercises, MicaZ motes and an altered TinyOS tutorial were used. The first
exercise is about uploading a simple blink program to one mote. In the second exercise,
two motes use radio communication. The third exercise uses a sensor board to gather
real-world data, and the data was displayed on a traditional computer. The research
experiences, lessons and code alterations are described in detail.
Tiny Operating System (TinyOS)
TinyOS is an open-source operating system
designed for embedded systems with very
limited resources, like the Mica series of
motes. It is written in NesC, an extension to
C, with similar syntax that attempts to
embody the structuring concepts and
execution model of TinyOS [5]. As an
embedded operating system,…