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ANTS - An evolvable Network of Tiny Sensors
   
 

Information and Communications University (ICU) Korea

Introduction
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), as a key enabling technology for ubiquitous computing, has a wide range of applications which are deeply embedded in the physical world. WSN can include several billions of heterogeneous sensor network connected world wide. Sensor nodes, of which the behaviours (born, live and die) resemble the living nature, are often densely deployed in large number in those networks. These characteristics pose a new requirement of a deeply dynamic future for WSN technology: The sensor networks should be ubiquitous, heterogeneous and interoperable. Sensor net- work software should be fault tolerant, self-configurable to flexibly adapt to any change of environment. Base on these requirements, we proposed a project named ANTS (An evolvable Network of Tiny Sensors). All of our research fields under this umbrella project aim to provide an intelligent platform with learning ability for WSN. This net- work of tiny sensors can be easily adaptable to new environment and applications. It has the capability of accomodating possible new services in the future, which correspond to the renovation of market as well as forcasts of future. In this framework, all components of sensor networks will support evolvability of sensor network applicat- ions. This is the future we are strongly heading for.
The following picture presents some applications of ANTS.

ANTS applications
Figure 1: ANTS applications - Customized ANTS-EOS for Haroobang Project

ANTS architecture
The following figure describes the whole architecture of ANTS, ranging from Hardwares to applications.

ANTS architecture
Figure 2: ANTS - architecture

ANTS logo

Concept of Evolvability in ANTS
The concept of Evolvability is summarized in the following table:

Requirements
Referred to
Adaptability
Ability to change with environment circumstances
Interoperability
Interaction with external systems
Modularity
Module based architecture
Scalability
Ease of adaptation to changing necessities
Upgradability
Dynamic updating processes
Dependability
Tolerant to errors during the system operations

ANTS-EOS
ANTS-EOS (Evolvable Operating System), as the heart of this archi- tecture, coordinated the system design to support the evolvability services. It provides an architecture of a flexible and efficient oper- ating system, which gracefully satisfies the requirements and con- straints for the WSN. The key features of ANTS-EOS are a flexible multithreaded engine which is portable, scalable and evolvable, easy to use with standard programming language and a sufficient Applic- ation Programming Interface (API) set for building different applic- ation scenarios. Above all, we applied the concept of evolvability for WSN software, with which both the applications and the oper- ating system can be easily configurable and upgradeable. The ar- chitectures of ANTS-EOS are presented in the following figures.

ANTS-EOS architecture
Figure 3: ANTS-EOS architecture

ANTS-EOS outdoor
Figure 4: Customised ANTS-EOS for Haroobang Project

   
 
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