Design trade-offs for the wireless management networks of constrained device testbeds

A relatively small number of testbeds based on constrained devices use a wireless management network, mostly because of the unreliable communication it enables. However, in some cases, such management networks are the only option due to the target location of such testbeds: outdoors, on light posts, buildings, etc. In this paper, we analyze the design trade-offs encountered when designing a wireless management network for testbeds based on constrained devices. First, we identify two use cases and the functionality needed by the management network in supporting them. Next, we discuss ways of providing the desired functionality and illustrate the decisions we took for designing and implementing the management network for the extension of the LOG-a-TEC testbed together with an initial evaluation. The analysis and the adopted decisions resulted in a management network that is separated from the experimental network providing improved application throughput, together with smaller application level updates/reconfiguration size that significantly shorten the time required to set up a new experiment.