Iris nodes and Lego
Development of a mobile platform for wireless sensor networks
| Contact | Christoph Weyer |
| Students | Torsten Stremlau |
| Year | 2008 |
| Context | Studienarbeit (project) |
Background
Sensor networks consist of battery operated microcontroller systems with sensors and radio transceivers, which are used to establish a wireless network. These sensor nodes may be mobile, which means they are moving, self-propelling robots, e.g. for measuring at different locations. A common hardware platform for sensor networks is the IRIS node sold by the company Crossbow. However, for constructing robots, mechanical components and motor drivers are missing. Lego brick kits would make the mechanical construction of robots simple. Besides motors and sensors, also the computer platform NXT is available. Unfortunately, restrictions with the wireless communication make the NXT platform unsuitable for sensor networks.
Project Goals
Thus, the goal of this project was to create the required hardware and software for controlling Lego robots from IRIS nodes. A printed circuit board was developed providing the extension plug of IRIS nodes as well as the plugs of the NXT platform. The latter can be used to connect Lego's motors and sensors enabling to control and query them from an IRIS node. Software modules have been developed for the sensor network operating system TinyOS, making the access to motors and sensors simple. Board and software became the basis for the robot of the succeeding RIKA student project WirelessAccelRC.