Implementation and application of a multi-radio wireless sensor networks testbed

Abstract

The authors propose EasiTest, a multi-radio testbed for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Two types of sensor nodes, specifically, high-speed multi-radio node (EZ271) and low-speed single-radio node (EZ521) are developed. An administration platform is provided to monitor and control the testbed. EasiTest enjoys high flexibility, powerful processing capability and ease of expansion. EasiTest provides a powerful tool not only for the study and evaluation of large-scale, heterogeneous sensor networks, but also for quick prototyping of practical WSN applications. To demonstrate the capability of the testbed, the co-existence problem of IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15.4 is studied. Guidelines are given on channel allocation and network parameter configuration to minimise the interference. In addition, to demonstrate the flexibility of the testbed, the authors evaluate robust opportunistic scheduling for ad hoc networks, a distributed opportunistic scheduling protocol, based on the testbed. The experimental results match with the simulation results very well. © 2011 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.