User-Centric Plug-And-Play Functionality for IPv6-Enabled Wireless Sensor Networks

Smart nodes that sense the environment and communicate wirelessly to reach a sink node create wireless sensor networks. One of the main research challenges regarding wireless sensor networks is user deployment, namely in terms of configuration and management. On non-commercial solutions the user typically must be aware of the underlying technology to obtain sensing services. Internet connectivity is also desirable, so future deployments must take into consideration this feature, enabling realistic ubiquitous computing. This paper presents a user-centric solution for IPv6-enabled wireless sensor networks, using the Contiki operating system and Crossbow TelosB motes, featuring a Plug-and-Play like experience. One of the motes provides sink node capability to the network, through USB connection with a personal computer, which sends and receives data, presenting it to the user. A dedicated serial protocol for USB communication with the sink was developed and extensively debugged, featuring sink querying and network configuration. The current testbed uses User Datagram Protocol over IPv6, with 6LoWPAN, and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless communication between the sensor network motes and the sink device. A Plug-and-Play like operation is achieved through zero-user configuration, since the user only needs to plug in the sink and give power to the remote motes.