CS 8803 E – Pervasive Computing with Distributed Sensors

Midterm Take Home Exam (15% of your course grade)

Due: March 1, 2002 (before 5 PM), NO EXCEPTIONS!

 

          NOTES:

1.    The exam has to be done individually.

2.    No consultation with fellow students beyond looking at the scribe notes on the web. 

3.    No one should post anything that can be deemed as potential solutions to the following questions on the web.

4.    The completed answers can be submitted by e-mail before the due date and time.

5.    Hard copies will also be accepted.

6.    Enjoy doing the exam!

 

  1. A skeptic would say that there are no new systems issues to be explored in pervasive computing.  How would you counter that?  You have to explain with concrete instances of new research problems engendered by pervasive computing and why they are yet unsolved and/or the state of their current exploration.
  2. Distinguish between location aware and location support systems.  How do the design goals of sentient computing and cricket systems differ?  What are the similarities and differences between the solution approaches of the two systems?  Does the solution approach of one make it incompatible with the design goals of the other?  Explain.
  3. Compare the paper of Heidemann, et al., on wireless sensor networks (SOSP 2001), and Ad Hoc mobile wireless routing protocols (Toh’s paper from IEEE Personal Communications, 1999).  Discuss the similarities and differences in the assumptions and issues addressed by the two papers. Suggest ways to adapt Ad Hoc wireless routing protocols to Heidemann’s sensor networks.
  4. Publish/subscribe model found in systems such as ECho and Stampede are alternatives to RPC for structuring distributed computations.  Are there some classes of applications for which ECho is better suited than Stampede, and vice versa?  Explain your answer.  What features of the two systems are complementary in nature, and what are similar in nature?
  5. Discuss the various wireless technology options that exist today.  What are the pros and cons of each? In your opinion, which one has the most prospects of being successful?  Justify qualitatively and quantitatively.