2005 Networking of Sensor Systems (NOSS)
Principal Investigator and Informational Meetings

PI Meeting (invitation only): October 17, 2005
Informational Meeting (open to all): October 18, 2005
(Note date change)

Maxwell Dworkin Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Note: Registration for the informational meeting is now closed. Unfortunately, we cannot accept late or on-site registrations.

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The goal of the Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS) program at the National Science Foundation is to sustain the science and technology needed to fulfill our vision for next-generation networks and to address the limitations of existing networks. One focus area within NeTS is the Networking of Sensor Systems (NOSS).

For further information on the NOSS program, please see:

An individual sensor system can sense its immediate environment, process what it senses, communicate its results to others over a wireless link, and possibly take an action in response. Sensor systems are enabled by advances in digital sensors, digital actuators, and low power RF radios and by integrating these in a single chip with a processor- memory system. While a single sensor system has very limited use, a network of sensors can be used to instrument and manage large environments and systems.

Significant scientific and technical progress is required to realize the potential of networks of sensor systems. This focus area examines networking aspects of small sensor systems that are used as building blocks in large- scale, in-situ sensing applications. Sensor systems contain new types of computing machines, run different kinds of network applications, execute in different physical environments, and have large numbers of nodes. Moreover, a sensor system needs to operate with severe power and other resource constraints, and it needs to communicate and cooperate with a large number of other sensor systems over wireless links that have severe bandwidth and range constraints. In short, building networks of sensor systems requires overcoming many challenges.

The Networking of Sensor Systems focus area is concerned with the design and development of protocols, operating systems, and network architectures and with building systems that facilitate constructing networks of sensor systems. The overall goal is to make it as easy to assemble a network of sensor systems in the next few years as it became in the 1980s to assemble a LAN of workstations using the BSD Unix protocol stack, socket interface, and Ethernet line cards. The focus area will achieve its goals by

  1. Creating strong foundation and system knowledge for the design and development of networks of sensor systems that are easy to manage, evolve, and secure, and that can provide quality of service guarantees;
  2. Developing a range of efficient and usable network sensor system platforms and tools; and
  3. Creating network testbeds for sensor systems with diverse applications and platforms in order to gain significant experimental knowledge and experience.

The emphasis of this focus area is on networking, and hence the focus area funds both systems and foundations research that is closely tied to building networks of sensor systems.

NOSS Architecture Proposals currently under investigation:

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
Organized by the Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences
noss@eecs.harvard.edu