A Fast and Interactive Approach to Application Development on Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks

In Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANs) sensor and actuator devices are connected through radio links to perform tasks in many different contexts. Conventionally, applications for WSANs are developed using traditional operating systems which application code is linked with at the end of a cross-compilation process. We propose instead an alternative approach for building applications on WSANs that is based on interactivity and does not require time consuming cross-compilation phases. In our development methodology, it is possible to define procedures and services according to the application target, simultaneously test them and reprogram the nodes interactively when needed, even after network deployment. The main advantage of our approach is flexibility since it lets nodes exchange data and executable code, permits to define new syntactic constructs at runtime, and supports the creation of application-oriented languages.