Component-based development of networked embedded applications

Networked Embedded Systems (NEST) are large-scale distributed systems with resource limited processing nodes tightly coupled to physical processes via sensors and actuators. These strict resource constraints mandate thin application-specific operating system and middleware layers. Component-based development is an enabling technology in this arena. We present a model-based approach to the development of applications based on TinyOS, an important NEST platform. OS and application component interfaces along with their interdependencies are captured in a graphical environment and the glue code that ties together the application and OS components are automatically generated. A fully functional sophisticated modeling and code generation environment was developed in one man-month. This is due to the model integrated technology applied in the tool development.