Voice over Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks have traditionally focused on low duty-cycle applications where sensor data are reported periodically in the order of seconds or even longer. This is due to typically slow changes in physical variables, the need to keep node costs low and the goal of extending battery lifetime. However, there is a growing need to support real-time streaming of audio and/or low-rate video even in wireless sensor networks for use in emergency situations and short-term intruder detection. In this paper, we present FireFly, a time-synchronized sensor network platform for real-time data streaming across multiple hops. FireFly is composed of several integrated layers including specialized low-cost hardware, a sensor network operating system, a real-time link layer and network scheduling which together provide efficient support for applications with timing constraints. In order to achieve high end-to-end throughput, bounded latency and predictable lifetime, we employ hardware-based time synchronization. Multiple tasks including audio sampling, networking and sensor reading are scheduled using the nano-RK RTOS. We have implemented RT-Link, a TDMA-based link layer protocol for message exchange on well-defined time slots and pipelining along multiple hops. We use this platform to support 2-way audio streaming concurrently with sensing tasks. For interactive voice, we investigate TDMA-based slot scheduling with balanced bi-directional latency while meeting audio timeliness requirements. Finally, we describe our experimental deployment of 42 nodes in a coal mine, and present measurements of the end-to-end throughput, jitter, packet loss and voice quality