CENS Technical Seminar Series

Towards energy-aware operating systems for 32-bit wireless sensor network nodes

powerpoint slides

Invited Speaker: Dr. Thanos Stathopoulos, UCLA
Date: November 9, 2007
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Venue: 4760 Boleter Hall, UCLA

Abstract

In this talk we will present some initial steps towards energy-aware
operating systems. Our vision is to augment and enhance existing OSes so
that they can provide energy-efficient operation on the software level
(e.g. network interface selection, energy-aware scheduling) as well as
on the hardware level (e.g. selecting the optimal CPU/RAM/networking
speed for a particular operation). We will present the Energy Endoscope,
a hardware and software architecture that provides unprecedented
capabilities for directly observing energy usage of multiple subsystems
in real-time. We will demonstrate the capabilities of our architecture
and tools by presenting high-resolution power information in networking,
storage, memory and processing. Using results obtained in real-time we
will show that for a large class of WSN nodes, there exist several
interdependencies in energy consumption between different subsystems.
Through the use of the Energy Endoscope, we also identify optimal
operating points that can lead to significant energy savings. Finally,
we will discuss future challenges that lie ahead, such as integrating
Energy Endoscope information with the operating system itself, as well
as other energy savings adjustments to operating systems.

Biography

Thanos Stathopoulos is a postdoctoral researcher at CENS. Thanos
received his PhD from the Computer Science Department of UCLA in 2006
under the supervision of Deborah Estrin, and an M.Sc. in Computer
Science from UCLA in 2003. His research interests include energy aware
operating systems, multi-radio wireless systems, and sensor network
system design for biomedical applications.