Archetype-based design: Sensor network programming for application experts, not just programming experts

Lan S. Bai, Robert P. Dick, Peter A Dinda

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sensor network application experts such as biologists, geologists, and environmental engineers generally have little experience with, and little patience for, general-purpose and often low-level sensor network programming languages. We believe sensor network languages should be designed for application experts, who may not be expert programmers. To further that goal, we propose the concepts of sensor network application archetypes, archetype-specific languages, and archetype templates. Our work makes the following contributions. (1) We have examined a wide range of wireless sensor networks to develop a taxonomy of seven archetypes. This taxonomy permits the design of compact languages that are appropriate for novice programmers. (2) We developed a language (named WASP) and its associated compiler for a commonly encountered archetype. (3) We conducted user studies to evaluate the suitability of WASP and several alternatives for novice programmers. To the best of our knowledge, this 56-hour 28-user study is the first to evaluate a broad range of sensor network languages (TinyScript, Tiny-SQL, SwissQM, and TinyTemplate). On average, users of other languages successfully implemented their assigned applications 30.6% of the time. Among the successful completions, the average development time was 21.7 minutes. Users of WASP had an average success rate of 80.6%, and an average development time of 12.1 minutes (an improvement of 44.4%).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2009 International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, IPSN 2009
Pages85-96
Number of pages12
StatePublished - 2009
Event2009 International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, IPSN 2009 - San Francisco, CA, United States
Duration: Apr 13 2009Apr 16 2009

Publication series

Name2009 International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, IPSN 2009

Other

Other2009 International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, IPSN 2009
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco, CA
Period4/13/094/16/09

Keywords

  • Archetype
  • Human factors
  • Language
  • Taxonomy
  • Wireless sensor networks

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Information Systems
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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