PORTABLE SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR CONFIGURING A IEEE 802.15.4 WSN WITH MOBILE DEVICES

摘要

This paper presents a framework for setting up a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) by means of a mobile device like a PDA, through an IEEE 802.15.4 wireless link. This problem of installing a network of small sensing devices in a general environment is often referred to as "Commissioning practice", especially in the industrial world. In order to setup such a network, there is the need to face firstly with the network connections establishment, and when the topology is well formed, then it turns the time to setup the application related parameters, as the trigger levels, policy rules for actuators, timers and so on. A serial communication protocol has been designed and introduced between an IEEE 802.15.4 node and a PDA, in order to allow to the PDA to enter in the WSN and to tune the network and application's knobs. Once setup is done, the application could be started and the status of sensors and actuators is updated on the PDA. The protocol supports only star topology. A small demo has been succeeded by using few nodes, a commercial PDA and prototypal IEEE 802.15.4 boards.