Harvard Sensor Networks Lab

Our group's focus is on deploying and experimenting with sensor networks in realistic settings. To support our research, and that of others, we have built a number of sensor network testbeds as well as various related tools.

CitySense

CitySense is an urban scale sensor network testbed that will consist of 100 wireless sensors deployed across a city, such as on light poles and private or public buildings. Our current target is to deploy the network in Cambridge, MA. Each node will consist of an embedded PC, 802.11a/b/g interface, and various sensors for monitoring weather conditions and air pollutants. CitySense is intended to be an open testbed that researchers from all over the world can use to evaluate wireless networking and sensor network applications in a large-scale urban setting. CitySense is being developed in conjunction with BBN Technologies and is supported by an NSF Computing Research Infrastructure grant.

MoteLab

MoteLab is a 184-node sensor network testbed deployed over three floors of the Harvard EECS building. MoteLab has been used for many research studies by our group and others. The testbed is accessible via the Internet using a simple Web-based interface, and we invite researchers to sign up for an account.

Sensor Network Tools

LiveNet is a set of tools and analysis methods for reconstructing the complex behavior of a deployed sensor network. LiveNet is based on the use of multiple passive packet sniffers co-located with the network, which collect packet traces that are merged to form a global picture of the network's operation. The merged trace can be used to reconstruct critical aspects of the network's operation that cannot be observed from a single vantage point or with simple application-level instrumentation.

PowerTOSSIM is an extension to the TOSSIM sensor network simulation environment that includes a detailed power model, allowing for accurate power usage estimation in large-scale sensor network simulations.