A proposed API for the control plane of the WSN Integrated Technical Reference Model (I-TRM)

The Integrated Technical Reference Model (I-TRM) for an autonomous Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been developed to be used as a guideline to develop a unified and standardized architecture for a diverse array of multi-platform WSNs. Based on the I-TRM proposed by Michel and Fortier, there are three planes to this reference model: The Information Plane, the Control Plane and the Behavior Plane. This reference model lays out a detailed layered model with functional description of each layer described in general terms. The Control Plane puts forward the goal setting and control of the system. The main focus is on the details about the control organization of the system including hierarchical control and task distribution, in coherence to the initial work done in the field of control architecture, authentication of the semantic correctness of the goal, decomposition of valid goals into functional tasks based on knowledge about the lower layers, and organization of system tasks for goal-achievement in accordance with spatial and temporal information by decomposing the task groups into sub-tasks and assigning priorities to them. This paper presents the follow up research performed on this I-TRM, by providing a platform independent API to aid designers of WSNs to develop a codified implementation of WSNs. The API has been implemented using C in a Windows™ platform running on a standard PC/laptop, as well as portions of it in NesC in a TinyOS environment, running on the Berkeley Motes.