Center for Embedded Network Sensing

A key challenge in sensor networks is ensuring the sustainability of the system at the required performance level, in an autonomous manner. Sustainability is a major concern because of severe resource constraints in terms of energy, bandwidth and sensing capabilities in the system. In this paper, we envision the use of a new design dimension to enhance sustainability of in sensor networks—the use of controlled mobility. We argue that this capability can alleviate resource limitations and improve system performance by adapting to deployment demands. While opportunistic use of external mobility has been considered before, the use of controlled mobility is largely unexplored. We also outline the research issues associated with effectively utilizing this new design dimension. Two system prototypes are described to present first steps towards realizing the proposed vision.