In recent years, data centers have emerged to be an
increasingly important computing infrastructure. It is shown that
wireless sensor networks (sensornets) can provide fine-grained
measurements in data centers, and achieve better control of the
data center platform for energy efficiency. However, the usage
of sensornets has so far been limited to auxiliary functions,
such as sensory data collection across a data center. We argue
that the combined computational and networking capability of a
sensor network enables it to interact with the clusters in a much
more sophisticated way and enhance essential functions in a data
center. We have designed a Cluster-Area Sensor Network (CASN)
to improve the cluster management and operational security in
the system. Implemented with TelosB motes, CASN can be easily
deployed in a cluster, with sensor nodes attached in an ad hoc
manner to servers, and provides key system functions including
cluster-wide command dissemination and verification of physical
presence. Experimental results show that CASN has 85% success
rate in verifying physical locations of servers with coarse-grained
localization when the threshold is 3 meters, and incurs small
latency in cluster-wide command dissemination.
Check out our CASN paper published at the 10th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS 2013) and my talk given at the conference.
