On Rapid Development of Reactive Wireless Sensor Systems

We present a software platform for designing and testing wireless networks of sensors and actuators (WSNs). The platform consists of three components: an operating system for small-footprint microcontrollers (dubbed PicOS), a software development kit (SDK) amounting to a C-based, event-oriented (reactive) programming language, and a virtual execution platform (VUE²) capable of emulating complete deployment environments for WSNs and thus facilitating their rapid development.¹ Its most recent incarnation introduced in the present paper is a component of the WSN lab being currently set up at Vistula in collaboration with Olsonet Communications Corporation.² We highlight the platform’s most interesting features within the context of a production WSN installed at independent-living facilities.