Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

International Initiatives

• Title: Real-Time Real-World Monitoring Systems

• International Partner (Institution - Laboratory - Researcher):

  • University of California Berkeley (United States) - Civil and Environmental Engineering - Steven Glaser

  • University of Michigan (United States) - Civil and Environmental Engineering - Branko Kerkez

• Start year: 2015

• See also: http://glaser.berkeley.edu et http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bkerkez/

• The Internet of Things revolution prompted the development of new products and standards; The IEEE 802.15.4e (2012) standard introduced the Time Synchronized Channel Hoping (TSCH) which can provide end-to-end reliability of 99.999 % and an energy autonomy of many years. This exceptional performance prompted the IETF to create the 6TISCH working group to standardize the integration of TSCH networks in the Internet. While the first experimental data have highlighted the great robustness of these networks, there is no data of a real network, accessible in real time, on a large scale and over a long period. Such data is needed to better model network performance and produce better products and standards. The teams of Professors Glaser and Kerkez are successfully deploying such networks to study mountain hydrology, monitor water quality and manage rainwater in urban environments. A model is missing to assist in the deployment and operation of these networks, as well as to monitor an operational network.

Inria-EVA has a long-standing Memorandum of Understanding with the OpenMote company (http://www.openmote.com/), which runs until 2020. OpenMote emerged as a spin-off of the OpenWSN project, co-led by Thomas Watteyne and Prof. Xavier Vilajosana, Professor at the Open University of Catalonia and Chief Technical Officer at OpenMote.

The collaboration has been ongoing since 2012 and at the time of writing has resulted in:

• Joint academic publications, including 7 journal articles, 1 letter, 1 book chapter, 5 conference papers, 2 tutorials and invited talks.

• Joint standardization activities, in particular in the IETF 6TiSCH working group, co-chaired by Thomas Watteyne and for which Prof. Xavier Vilajosana is a key contributor. This activity has resulted in the joint participation in 12 IETF face-to-face meetings, joint participation in over 100 audioconferences, co-authorship of 3 Internet-Drafts and joint organization of 2 interop events.

• Joint software development, as both institutions closely collaborate in the maintenance, development, promotion and research along the OpenWSN project, including the development of the protocol stack, the integration of novel hardware technologies, the support to the community and the participation in standardization activities and interoperability events.

This MOU is NOT a commitment of funds by any party.