X-Sense

RTD 2010

FlockLab: A Testbed for Distributed, Synchronized Tracing and Profiling of Wireless Embedded Systems
Roman Lim, Federico Ferrari, Marco Zimmerling, Christoph Walser, Jan Beutel
Computer Engineering and Networks Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich

Architecture
Debugging software for wireless embedded systems is difficult Non-deterministic environment Working close to resource limit makes systems extremely fragile
Testbed server Observation layer

Deployment
Indoor observer (Ethernet) Outdoor observer (Wi-Fi) Link with PRR > 90% (Tmote)
0 5 10 15 20 m

Testbeds for Wireless Sensor Networks Increase observability Enable testing on real hardware Help validate simulation results

System layer

The observation layer provides means to reprogram target nodes, monitor running programs, and interact with sensor nodes. The system layer represents the actual sensor network, consisting of individual sensor nodes, wireless links and environment. 4x30 nodes Ethernet/Wi-Fi 4 outdoor observers

FlockLab Highlights Distributed power profiling on all nodes simultaneously at up to 56kHz Monitoring of logical state changes through GPIO tracing at up to 10kHz Trigger logical state changes through GPIO actuation Adjustable supply voltage between 1.8V and 3.3V in steps of 100mV
I Sender

GPIO and Power Traces

Power trace
20

I Receiver
15 mA 10 5 0 0 20 15 mA 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Supports several node platforms and state-of-the-art operating systems: Tmote Sky Opal (CSIRO) IRIS (IBM) TinyNode184 New platforms can be integrated with little effort and cost

State traces (GPIO) Sender Radio Tx Sender CPU

1

0 1

Tmote Sky
Standard serial I/O services

IRIS

Opal

TinyNode

0 0

Benchmarks
GPIO Tracing on 30 Observers Average error on interval measurements: -0.011s Average pairwise error between observers: 36s Accuracy of Power Profiling Static power measurements Compared to high-accuracy power analyzer Accuracy significantly improved through calibration
0
20 Occurrence [%] 15 10 5 0 200 100 0 100 Error on time intervals of 1s [s] 200

Stability of Target Power Supply Small voltage drop over 0-167mA range Internal resistance less than AA battery
100 Observers AA Batteries
(average, 15th and 85th percentiles)

Voltage drop [mV]

Relative error [%]

80 60 40 20 0 0.1

20

40 After calibration Before calibration 60 0.1

(average, 15th and 85th percentiles)

10 Current [mA]

100

10 Current [mA]

100

FlockLab provides distributed, synchronized power and event tracing at high resolution and accuracy. The instrumentation circuit for power profiling has only minimal impact on the target supply voltage.