Wireless ad-hoc network projects

I am interested in research in ad-hoc networks. I have a variety of student projects in mind:

• design and build hardware and firmware for small sensor network nodes. These would have a PIC microcontroller, a serial radio and a few sensors (temperature, light, moisture), and most likely would be solar powered. A good opportunity for hardware and software hacking.
• design and implement a very simple script-like language for wireless sensor network nodes. This language should support data acquisition, communications, and housekeeping. This project is one of language design (which includes usability considerations) and implementation.
• MANET and ad-hoc net protocol analysis. There are many protocols that have been designed for Mobile Ad-Hoc networks, for Wireless Sensor Networks, for Wireless Mesh Networks, and of other wireless ad-hoc networks. Some of these protocols are being standardised, including DSR, AODV, and OLSR. It is generally hard to evaluate which protocol is best for a given situation. This project consists in creating realistic scenarios and evaluating (where possible) existing implementations, using simulators, to try and determine which protocol performs best for each scenario. This project is mostly about network simulation.

Depending on the actual work, the above projects should at least potentially be able to lead to publication of the results.

I am also usually open to projects suggested by the students, as long as I have sufficient expertise to supervise such a project. Please refer to my web page for details of projects I have supervised in the past.

Each project will require a report at the end as well as at least weekly meetings with the instructor.