TinyOS and NesC
MANJUNATH D,
CS 4222 SEMESTER II, 2011/2012
Hardware: Motes and Sensors
Configuration of a typical mote
Sensors
TelosB
16-bit 8 MHz processor
10 KB RAM
Microcontroller (TIMSP430)
Smart dust
48 KB internal flash
12-bit ADC
Radio transceiver of 250 Kbps
2 AA batteries
SBT30 sensor
TinyOS and NesC: Installation
 An overview of the steps involved in using TinyOS and NesC

PC-side
Install TinyOS and NesC
 Write and compile your programs
 Test your executables in a simulation environment
 Finally, executables are loaded on to the mote devices


Mote-side

Loaded executables are executed on the mote devices
TinyOS and NesC: PC-Side Installation
 On the PC-side, we encourage you to use Ubuntu
Linux: http://www.ubuntu.com/
 A three-step process for installation
 Edit the file “/etc/apt/sources.list” to include the following line


“deb http://tinyos.stanford.edu/tinyos/dists/ubuntu <version_name> main”

Command “lsb_release –a” will tell you the <version_name>
Execute commands


“apt-get update” and “apt-get install tinyos-2.1.1”
Set environment variables

Add the line “source /opt/tinyos-2.1.1/tinyos.sh” to “/home/xxx/.bashrc”
TinyOS and NesC: PC-Side Installation (Contd..)
 Installation is somewhat painful on other OSs

Every package has to be installed manually

Details for Windows, Redhat Linux, and MAC can be found here
http://docs.tinyos.net/index.php/Getting_started

Learning Unix commands is inevitable as Cygwin is mandatory
on Windows so why not Ubuntu Linux ?

You can use Ubuntu Linux’s virtual image containing TinyOS
and NesC on Windows
http://docs.tinyos.net/index.php/Getting_started
TinyOS and NesC: PC-Side Installation (Contd..)
 Directory structure
 Parent directory
/opt/tinyos-2.1.1/

Applications
/opt/tinyos-2.1.1/apps/

System libraries
/opt/tinyos-2.1.1/tos/

Supporting tools
/opt/tinyos-2.1.1/support/
TinyOS: Design
 Process management
 Application plus OS is a single program and a single process
Application+OS
Main() { }
func1(){ }
func2(){ }
func3(){ }
func4(){ }
funcN(){ }
Image of a TinyOS Program
TinyOS: Design
 Process management
 Multiprocessing is expensive in terms of memory
RAM
0X00000
Process 1
Process 2
Process 3
Process N
stack
stack
stack
stack
Global variables (BSS)
Each process has to be allocated with a separate stack memory
Stack
TinyOS’s single stack

Only interrupts are allowed to preempt the execution
TinyOS: Design
 Memory management
 Virtual memory is not supported
 Memory is not protected
 File systems
 Proposed file systems are not popular
TinyOS: Components
 TinyOS is a library of components


A specific component implements a specific set of services
A component in turn can be a collection of sub-components
Routing
Network
MAC
Temperature
Light
Sensors
Microphone
Radio
USB
Flash
TinyOS
Leds
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 Building an application over TinyOS
AppC
TinyOS
Routing
Network
MAC
Temperature
Light
Sensors
Microphone
Radio
USB
Flash
Leds
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 Component interfaces
 Component services are accessed via interfaces
Send
Network
Receive
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 Interface commands
 Instruct components to perform its specific tasks
getTemperature
getLight
Sensors
SampleSensors
getMagnetometer
getAccelerometer
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 Interface events

Applications are responsible for specifying an action on an
occurrence of an event
Network
Receive
PacketReceive
Application
Send
sendDone
Application
 Events are also essential as system calls in TinyOS
are non-blocking
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 A few commonly used TinyOS components
 LedsC
 TimerC
 ActiveMessageC
 Some components to sample sensors
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 LedsC
 Allows to control the 3 LEDS on the motes
 Provided interfaces

Leds
 Commands
•
•
•
•
•
•
led0Toggle()
led1Toggle()
led2Toggle()
ledoOn
led0Off
………
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 TimerC
 Lets to carryout a task after a specified interval or periodically
 Provided interfaces

Timer
 Commands
•
•
•
•

startPeriodic(int period_millisec)
startOneShot(int period_millisec)
stop()
……
Events
• fired()
TinyOS: Components (Contd..)
 ActiveMessageC (TinyOS’s Network component)
 Allows to communicate over the radio
 Provided interfaces

AMSend
 Commands
• send(destination, packet, size)

Events
• sendDone(packet, error)

Receive
 Events
• receive(packet, payload, size)
NesC: Design
 NesC is designed to implement TinyOS components
 NesC is a pre-processor to the C compiler
NesC program
NesC preprocessor
C program
C compiler (gcc)
Binary for the mote platform
NesC Compilation Process
NesC Programs over TinyOS
 The best way to learn NesC is to dig into a few
examples of NesC programs over TinyOS
 Hello-world program

A simple application that toggles (blinks) the red LED on a
mote once in every 2 seconds
Configuration component
components LedsC, TimerC,
MainC;
components BlinkC;
implementation {
BlinkC.Leds -> LedsC;
BlinkC.Timer -> TimerC;
BlinkC.Boot -> MainC;
}
LedsC
interfaces: Leds
commands:
led0Toggle()
led1Toggle()…..
TimerC
interfaces: Timer
commands:
startPeriodic()
events:
fired()
Module component (BlinkC)
uses {
interface Leds;
interface Timer;
interface Boot;
}
implementation {
event Boot.booted()
{
call Timer.startPeriodic(2000) ;
}
event Timer.fired()
{
call Leds.led0Toggle() ;
}
}
NesC Programs over TinyOS (Contd..)
 Compile and upload the Blink application
 Include a Makefile containing the following two lines
COMPONENT=BlinkAppC
include $(MAKERULES)

Compilation


Type make telosb in the same directory where the Makefile and your
application components are located
Uploading an exe image on to a mote
Type make telosb reinstall.NODEID bsl,addr_usb_port in the same
directory
 Command “motelist” will give you the addr_usb_port
e.g., make telosb reinstall.1 bsl,/dev/ttyUSB0

NesC Programs over TinyOS (Contd..)
 A simple networking example
 A packet is communicated from a sender to a receiver with the
sender turning ON the red LED after transmission and the
receiver switches ON the green LED on receiving the packet
Configuration component
components ActiveMessageC,
LedsC, MainC;
ActiveMessageC
interface: AMSend
commands: send()
events: sendDone()
interface: Receive
events: receive ()
interface: SplitControl
commands: start()
events: startDone()
LedsC
interfaces: Leds
commands:
led0Toggle()
led1Toggle()…..
Module component
uses {
interface AMSend;
interface Receive;
interface SplitControl;
interface Boot;
}
implementation {
message_t packet;
event Boot.booted()
{
call SplitControl.start()
}
event SplitControl.startDone()
{
call AMSend.send(2, &packet, 10);
}
Configuration component
Module component
components ActiveMessageC,
LedsC, MainC;
event AMSend.sendDone(packet, error)
{
if(error == SUCCESS) {
call Leds.led0On();
}
else {
// Retransmit if you need
}
}
ActiveMessageC
interface: AMSend
commands: send()
events: sendDone()
interface: Receive
events: receive ()
interface: SplitControl
commands: start()
events: startDone()
LedsC
interfaces: Leds
commands:
led0Toggle()
led1Toggle()…..
event Receive.recevie(packet, payload,
size)
{
call Leds.led1On();
}
}
Configuration component
components ActiveMessageC,
LedsC, MainC;
components NetC;
implementation {
NetC.AMSend ->
ActiveMessageC.AMSend;
NetC.Receive ->
ActiveMessageC.Receive;
NetC.SplitControl ->
ActiveMessageC;
NetC.Boot -> MainC;
}
Module component (NetC)
uses {
interface AMSend;
interface Receive;
interface SplitControl;
interface Boot;
}
implementation {
message_t packet;
event Boot.booted()
{
call SplitControl.start()
}
event SplitControl.startDone()
{
call AMSend.send(2, &packet, 10);
}
Configuration component
components ActiveMessageC,
LedsC, MainC;
components NetC;
implementation {
Module component (NetC)
uses {
interface
interface
interface
interface
}
AMSend;
Receive;
SplitControl;
Boot;
NetC.AMSend ->
ActiveMessageC.AMSend;
NetC.Receive ->
ActiveMessageC.Receive;
NetC.SplitControl ->
ActiveMessageC;
NetC.Boot -> MainC;
}
event Receive.recevie(packet, payload,
size)
{
call Leds.led1On();
}
Configuration component
components ActiveMessageC,
LedsC, MainC;
components NetC;
implementation {
Module component (NetC)
uses {
interface
interface
interface
interface
}
AMSend;
Receive;
SplitControl;
Boot;
NetC.AMSend ->
ActiveMessageC.AMSend [240];
NetC.Receive ->
ActiveMessageC.Receive[240];
NetC.SplitControl ->
ActiveMessageC;
NetC.Boot -> MainC;
}
event Receive.recevie(packet, payload,
size)
{
call Leds.led1On();
}
NesC Programs over TinyOS (Contd..)
 An example of serial communication over USB
 Send a command from a PC to a mote that triggers the mote to
send a packet back to the PC (PC
mote communication)
SF-client
SF
SF protocol
SF-client
PC
Required set-up for serial communication
mote
NesC Programs over TinyOS (Contd..)
 Executing serial communication programs on the
PC-side

SF is a gateway program that lets multiple clients to
communicate with a mote
./sf tcp_port_num usb_dev_addr telosb

Two programs constituting the SF-client
./send host_addr sf_port_num input_values
./receive host_addr sf_port_num

These programs are available in C, Python, and Java

You do not have to learn any of these languages – knowing to
execute their programs is sufficient !!!!
NesC Programs over TinyOS (Contd..)
 TinyOS component to be used on the mote-side
 SerialActiveMessageC (Very similar to the ActiveMessageC)

Provided interfaces
 AMSend
 Receive
 SplitControl
Configuration component
components
SerialActiveMessageC,
Module component (SerialC)
uses {
components SerialC, LedsC, MainC;
implementation {
interface AMSend;
interface Receive;
SerialC.AMSend ->
interface SplitControl;
SerailActiveMessageC.AMSend[240];
SerialC.Receive -> SerialActiveMessageC.Receive[240];
SerialC.SplitControl ->
SerialActiveMessageC;
SerialC.Boot -> MainC;
}
event AMSend.sendDone(packet, error)
{
if(error == SUCCESS) {
call Leds.led0On();
}
else {
// Retransmit if you need
}
}
}
interface Boot;
}
implementation {
message_t packet;
event Boot.booted()
{
call SplitControl.start();
}
event SplitControl.startDone()
{
}
event Receive.recevie(packet, payload, size)
{
call Leds.led1On();
call AMSend.send(addr, &packet, 10);
}
Programming Assignment 1
 A simple application aimed to warm you up for more
programming on TinyOS/NesC

Students mainly learn
Basic architecture of TinyOS/NesC
 Compilation and downloading of TinyOS code on to motes
 PC<->Mote communication

 Application is to turn a desired LED(s) ON/OFF for a
desired duration of time
 Application involves programming on both PC- and
mote-side
Programming Assignment 1 (Contd..)
 PC-side
 Design a client that communicates a few parameters to the
mote and displays messages received from the mote
 A command line interface is sufficient, no need for GUI
 Mote-side
 Program should receive the parameters that the client
transmits and send an ACK back to the client
 LEDS must be controlled as instructed by the input
parameters
Programming Assignment 1 (Contd..)
 Submission
 Submit your code zipped/tarred to IVLE workbin
 The code should be compilable and include a README file
explaining how to compile and how the program works
 Grading
 25 points – Correct choice of components and compilation
 25 points – PC to mote communication
 25 points – Mote to PC communication
 25 Points – Desired control of LEDS
 Weightage towards final assessment is 5%