WIP: Integration of Hardware and Software Environments to Study Wireless Sensor Networks

This work-in-progress research-to-practice paper explores the integration of hardware and software environments to facilitate the study of wireless sensor networks. The hardware environment is the physical wireless sensor network which comprises WiFi modules, configured in a grid, to transmit and receive radio frequency signal data. The software environment is the virtual wireless sensor network comprising virtual sensor nodes arranged in a grid within the chosen simulator environment. CupCarbon is the wireless sensor network design and simulation tool used to interface with the WiFi modules used in the physical wireless sensor network. The interface between the physical network and the virtual network enables the signal data from the physical wireless sensor network to be assigned and monitored by the virtual sensor nodes in the simulation environment. Interfaces are designed and tested to compare physical and virtual network performance. The platform is being developed to test and model wireless sensor networks at different geometric scales and distinct spatial topologies. The unified platform will be useful in introducing actual and virtual sensor networks to students ranging from K12 STEM schools to graduate students in engineering programs through (a) the setup and testing of actual sensor networks (b) studies on modeling of sensor networks through simulation tools (c) real-time integration of the joint operation of both environments.