Active tapes: bus-based sensor networks

In this work, we explore active tapes, a novel sensor network architecture. An active tape is a sequence of sensor nodes and related units (such as batteries) organized around a bus. A bus of programmable sensor nodes is, in effect, a programmable linear array, thus the term active tape. A bus provides a simple mechanism to share resources. In a sensor network context, the primary sharing concerns center around energy, sensing and networking. This paper serves as an introduction and initial exploration into the design space of active tapes.