Real-world deployments of sensor networks: Practical lessons for researchers

摘要

In this work we share lessons learned from our previous installations of wireless sensor networks and hope these lessons will help other research groups to install real-world applications more efficiently.First, we rediscovered the well-known KISS principle (Keep it Simple, Stupid), which holds true for real-world deployments of sensor networks.Second, we underestimated practical issues in outdoor installations, and it led to tmexpected and time-consuming problems. For instance, we did not notice that the selected voltage regulator works reliably only in temperatures above zero degree Celsius, leading to packet losses and a long debugging process.Third, apart from extensive software tests before deployment, our protocols and applications include also self-healing instructions. They detect software bugs on run-time and restart motes if needed.With all these three major steps, we were able to run real-world sensor networks for several years without major problems.