Using Coroutines for RPC in Sensor Networks

This paper proposes a concurrency model which integrates the asynchronous and event-driven nature of wireless sensor networks with higher-level abstractions that provide a more familiar programming style for the developer. As a basis for this proposal, we designed and implemented a cooperative multitasking scheduler, based on coroutines, for the TinyOS operating system. We then used this scheduler to implement RPC-like interfaces that capture different communication patterns common in wireless sensor networks. This allows the programmer to work, when appropriate, with a synchronous style, while maintaining an asynchronous model at the message exchange level.