Design and Implementation of a Single System Image Operating System for Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a distributed operating system for ad hoc networks. Our system simplifies the programming of ad hoc networks and extends total system lifetime by making the entire network appear as a single virtual machine. It automatically and transparently partitions applications into components and dynamically finds them a placement on nodes within the network to reduce energy consumption and to increase system longevity. This paper describes our programming model, outlines the design and implementation of our system and examines the energy efficiency of our approach through extensive simulations as well as validation of a deployment on a physical testbed. We evaluate practical, power-aware, general-purpose algorithms for component placement and migration, and demonstrate that they can significantly increase system longevity by effectively distributing energy consumption and avoiding hotspots.