ChaosNet: Distributed Computing for Low-Power Wireless Networks

Research Project, 2015 – 2018

Access to the Internet and communication is a key driving force in our modern society. The majority of us as people are already online. The next step is to bring connectivity and computing to physical objects and places: Even traditionally "dump" objects such as step counters, thermostats, and light bulbs now enjoy wireless communication. Predictions indicate that soon these smart, connected objects outnumber today's traditional connected devices such as smartphones or PCs. By 2020 we expect to reach 50 billion connected devices. These are so-called Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT) and they aim to make our daily life easier, safer, and more sustainable.

Cyber Physical Systems and Internet of Things monitor and interact with the physical world and allow for new applications such as smart power grids, intelligent transportation, or advanced automation in factories and homes. They provide safety critical services to our society, and their availability has significant economic and personal impact. As a result, they pose new challenges on the underlying communication systems, demanding for: (1) reliability to ensure message delivery, (2) real-time communication to ensure timely delivery in time-critical applications, and(3) energy efficiency to allow battery driven devices to operate for many years. In this project we develop new communication protocols addressing these three key challenges.

With our new network protocols we will enable new applications that help to make our daily life easier, safer, and more sustainable: Our protocols will allow autonomous vehicles such as cars to reliably cooperate to, for example, decide in which order they shall pass an intersection. Similarly, they will ensure reliable communication for medical devices such as insulin pumps or pacemakers.

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