Towards a Robust Internet of Things: The Case of Wireless Sensor Networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) has strong potential for supporting a human society interacting more symbiotically with its physical environment. The emergence of tiny devices capable of sensing environmental cues, and triggering actuators after consulting logic and human preferences, indeed promises for a more environmentally aware and promiscuous society. However, the intrinsic nature of the IoT challenges existing software development methodologies and, in particular, techniques for ensuring software reliability and security. This talk presents experiences from the development of debugging and monitoring solutions for a reliable and secure IoT, including techniques for gathering runtime information on the execution of individual sensor nodes and on their interaction.

Patrick Eugster is a Professor of Computer Science at TU Darmstadt, where he leads the Distributed Systems Programming group. He is also an Associate Professor of CS at Purdue University, currently on leave, and Chief Scientist of SensorHound Inc., a startup company specializing in wireless sensor reliability and security. Patrick is interested in programming languages and distributed systems, and in particular in the intersection between the two areas. He holds MS and PhD degrees from EPFL. His research has been awarded by an NSF CAREER award (2007) and an ERC Consolidator award (2014), and supported by several companies including Google, Amazon, NetApp, Cisco, HP, and Northrop Grumman. Patrick is a member of DARPAs Computer Science Study Panel (2010) and has been inducted into Purdue University's Innovator Hall of Fame (2014).