[OSL@UIUC]

Open Systems Laboratory

Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research
People
Publications
Utilities
 
 Research Theme 
 Application Areas 
 Complex Systems 
 Dependable Systems 
 Multi-Agent Systems 
 P2P and Web Computing 
 Sensor Networks and Real-Time Systems 
 Concurrent and Distributed Systems 
 Coordination Algorithms 
 Formal Methods 
 Programming Languages and Systems 
 Software Engineering 
 Software and Data 
 Actor Systems 
 Sensor Networks 
 Software Analysis and Testing Tools 
 Convergence of sensing, computing, wireless communication and miniaturization technologies led to the emergence of sensor networks as a new computing environment. Characterized by the combined challenges of real-time resource management in embedded systems and large-scale coordination in distributed computing, sensor networks offer a wealth of open research problems.

The goal of Sensor Networks and Real-Time Systems research in the Open Systems Laboratory is to overcome the challenges posed by scale, dynamicity and and resourse constraints in such systems. In particular, our work covers the following topics:
  • Scalable, resource-aware algorithms for real-time information synthesis and coordination in dynamic and unpredictable environments
  • Composable middleware services capable of adapting to evolving network conditions and application requirements
  • Formal verification and model checking of hybrid distributed systems with timing and resource constraints, and with probabilistic behavior
  • Programming, simulation and analysis tools for facilitating application design and development for network embedded systems
Our research spans application areas such as target tracking, localization, structural health monitoring and mobile agents. We have also developed methods and tools for modeling and simulation of sensor networks and other hybrid distributed systems. Sensor Networks and Real-Time Systems research in the Open Systems Laboratory is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary; the following list of our members' publications provides more insight into our work.
[Bibliography in .bib format]
  1. Kwon, YoungMin, Gul Agha. "Passive Localization: Large Size Sensor Network Localization Based on Environmental Events," International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN) (to appear), 2008. [pdf] [bib]
  2. Karmani, Rajesh Kumar, Gul Agha. "Debugging Wireless Sensor Networks Using Mobile Actors," RTAS Poster Session, 2008. [abstract] [poster] [bib]
  3. Shevlyagin, Sergei, Kirill Mechitov, Gul Agha. "Fault Tolerance in ActorNet," UIUC Department of Computer Science Undergraduate Research Symposium, 2008. [ppt-poster] [bib]
  4. Mechitov, Kirill, Reza Razavi, Gul Agha. "Architecture Design Principles to Support Adaptive Service Orchestration in WSN Applications," International Workshop on Wireless Sensor Network Architectures (WWSNA), 2007. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  5. Razavi, Reza, Kirill Mechitov, Gul Agha, Jean-Francois Perrot. "Dynamic Macroprogramming of Wireless Sensor Networks with Mobile Agents," 2nd Workshop on Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Ambient Intelligence (AITAmI), 2007. [pdf] [bib]
  6. Agha, Gul. "Computing with Biosensors," NSF Biosensing and Bioactuation Workshop, 2007. [pdf] [bib]
  7. Mechitov, Kirill, Reza Razavi, Gul Agha. "Architecture Design Principles to Support Adaptive Service Orchestration in WSN Applications," ACM SIGBED Review, vol. 4, no. 3, 2007. [pdf] [bib]
  8. Nagayama, Tomonori, B. F. Spencer. "Structural Health Monitoring Using Smart Sensors," Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory Report Series 001 http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3521, 2007. [bib]
  9. Razavi, Reza, Kirill Mechitov, Gul Agha, Jean-Francois Perrot. "Ambiance: A Mobile Agent Platform for End-User Programmable Ambient Systems," J.C. Augusto and D. Shapiro (eds.), Advances in Ambient Intelligence, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications (FAIA), vol. 164, IOS Press, 2007. [pdf] [bib]
  10. Mechitov, Kirill, WooYoung Kim, Gul Agha, Tomonori Nagayama. "High-Frequency Distributed Sensing for Structure Monitoring," Trans. of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), vol. E-S-1, no. 1, pages 109-114, 2006. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  11. Kwon, YoungMin, Gul Agha. "Scalable Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Wireless Sensor Networks," Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium (RTAS), IEEE pages 49-58, 2006. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  12. Kwon, YoungMin, Sameer Sundresh, Kirill Mechitov, Gul Agha. "ActorNet: An Actor Platform for Wireless Sensor Networks," Fifth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), pages 1297-1300, 2006. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  13. Nagayama, Tomonori, B. F. Spencer, Gul Agha, Kirill Mechitov. "Model-based Data Aggregation for Structural Monitoring Employing Smart Sensors," 3rd International Conference on Networked Sensing Systems (INSS), 2006. [pdf] [bib]
  14. Razavi, Reza, Kirill Mechitov, Sameer Sundresh, Gul Agha, Jean-Francois Perrot. "Ambiance: Adaptive Object Model-based Platform for Macroprogramming Sensor Networks," ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA), 2006. [pdf] [poster] [bib]
  15. Kwon, YoungMin, Sameer Sundresh, Kirill Mechitov, Gul Agha. "ActorNet: An Actor Platform for Wireless Sensor Networks," Technical Report UIUCDCS-R-2005-2595, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  16. Kwon, YoungMin, Gul Agha. "iLTLChecker: A Probabilistic Model Checker for Multiple DTMCs," 2nd International Conference on the Quantitative Evaluation of Systems, IEEE, (Tool paper), 2005. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  17. Devaraj, Christo Frank, Mehwish A Nagda, Indranil Gupta, Gul Agha. "An Underlay for Sensor Networks: Localized Protocols for Maintenance and Usage," Proc. IEEE Conf. Mobile Ad-Hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), 2005. [pdf] [bib]
  18. Kim, WooYoung, Kirill Mechitov, Jeung-Yoon Choi, Soo Ham. "On Target Tracking with Binary Proximity Sensors," Fourth International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN), pages 301-308, 2005. [pdf] [bib]
  19. Kwon, YoungMin, Kirill Mechitov, Sameer Sundresh, WooYoung Kim, Gul Agha. "Resilient Localization for Sensor Networks in Outdoor Environments," 25th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS), pages 643-652, 2005. [pdf] [bib]
  20. Sundresh, Sameer, YoungMin Kwon, Kirill Mechitov, WooYoung Kim, Gul Agha. "Localization of Sparse Sensor Networks Using Layout Information," Technical Report UIUCDCS-R-2005-2525, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  21. Mechitov, Kirill, WooYoung Kim, Gul Agha, Tomonori Nagayama. "High-Frequency Distributed Sensing for Structure Monitoring," First International Workshop on Networked Sensing Systems (INSS), pages 101-104, 2004. [pdf] [bib]
  22. Sen, Koushik, Grigore Rosu, Gul Agha. "Online Efficient Predictive Safety Analysis of Multithreaded Programs," In Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems (TACAS'04), volume 2988 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 123-138, Barcelona, Spain, March 2004., 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  23. Nagayama, Tomonori, Manuel Ruiz Sandoval, B. F. Spencer, Kirill Mechitov, Gul Agha. "Wireless Strain Sensor Development for Civil Infrastructure," First International Workshop on Networked Sensing Systems (INSS), pages 97-100, 2004. [pdf] [bib]
  24. Sen, Koushik, Abhay Vardhan, Gul Agha, Grigore Rosu. "On Specifying and Monitoring Epistemic Properties of Distributed Systems," In 2nd International Workshop on Dynamic Analysis (WODA'04), Satellite workshop of ICSE 2004, pages 32-35. British Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), May 2004., 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  25. Mazumdar, Soham. "Fast Range Queries using Pre-Aggregated In-Network Storage," Masters' thesis, 2004. [pdf] [bib]
  26. Agha, Gul, Carlos A. Varela. "Worldwide Computing Middleware," CRC Practical Handbook on Internet Computing, Editor: M. Singh, Invited Chapter., 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  27. Kwon, YoungMin, Kirill Mechitov, Sameer Sundresh, WooYoung Kim, Gul Agha. "Resilient Localization for Sensor Networks in Outdoor Environments," Technical Report UIUCDCS-R-2004-2449, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2004. [pdf] [bib]
  28. Kwon, YoungMin, Gul Agha. "Linear Inequality LTL (iLTL): A Model Checker for Discrete Time Markov Chains," International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods (ICFEM), 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  29. Sen, Koushik, Abhay Vardhan, Gul Agha, Grigore Rosu. "Efficient Decentralized Monitoring of Safety in Distributed Systems," In Proceedings of 26th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'04), pages 418-427, Edinburgh, UK, May 2004. IEEE., 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  30. Rosu, Grigore, Koushik Sen. "An Instrumentation Technique for Online Analysis of Multithreaded Programs," In Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Systems: Testing and Debugging (PADTAD'04) (Satellite workshop of IPDPS'04), Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, April 2004. IEEE digital library. Invited Paper., 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  31. Sundresh, Sameer, WooYoung Kim, Gul Agha. "SENS: A Sensor, Environment and Network Simulator," The 37th Annual Simulation Symposium (ANSS37), Arlington, VA, April 21, 2004. [pdf] [ppt] [sxi] [bib]
  32. Sen, Koushik, Mahesh Viswanathan, Gul Agha. "Statistical Model Checking of Black-Box Probabilistic Systems," In 16th conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV'04), volume 3114 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 202-215, Boston, MA, USA, July 2004. Springer., 2004. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  33. Krishnan, Prasanna V., Lui Sha, Kirill Mechitov. "Reliable Upgrade of Group Communication Software in Sensor Networks," First IEEE International Workshop on Sensor Network Protocols and Applications (SNPA), pages 82-92, 2003. [doc] [pdf] [bib]
  34. Mechitov, Kirill, Sameer Sundresh, YoungMin Kwon, Gul Agha. "Cooperative Tracking with Binary-Detection Sensor Networks," First International Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys), 2003. [pdf] [bib]
  35. Tosic, Predrag, Gul Agha. "True Concurrency vs. Nondeterministic Sequential Interleavings in 1-D Cellular Automata," IEEE Real Time Systems Symposium (RTSS'03), Work-in-Progress Workshop, Cancun, Mexico, December 3-5, 2003. [pdf] [bib]
  36. Sen, Koushik, Grigore Rosu, Gul Agha. "Generating Optimal Linear Temporal Logic Monitors by Coinduction," In Proceedings of 8th Asian Computing Science Conference (ASIAN'03), volume 2896 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 260{75, Mumbai, India, December 2003. Springer., 2003. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  37. Kumar, Nirman, Koushik Sen, Jose Meseguer, Gul Agha. "A Rewriting Based Model for Probabilistic Distributed Object Systems," In Proceedings of 6th IFIP International Conference on Formal Methods for Open Object-based Distributed Systems (FMOODS'03), volume 2884 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 32{46, Paris, France, November 2003. Springer., 2003. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  38. Jamali, Nadeem, Gul Agha. "CyberOrgs: A Model for Decentralized Resource Control in Multi Agent Systems ," Proceedings of Workshop on Representations and Approaches for Time-Critical Decentralized Resource/Role/Task Allocation, at the Second International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 03), Melbourne, Australia, July, 2003. [bib] [pdf]
  39. Sen, Koushik, Grigore Rosu, Gul Agha. "Runtime Safety Analysis of Multithreaded Programs," 9th European Software Engineering Conference and 11th ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE'03), pages 337{346, Helsinki, Finland, September, 2003. ACM., 2003. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  40. Sen, Koushik. "Predictive Safety Analysis of Concurrent Programs," Master's thesis, Supervisor Gul Agha, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May, 2003. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  41. Sundresh, Sameer, Gul Agha, Kirill Mechitov, WooYoung Kim, YoungMin Kwon. "Coordination Services for Wireless Sensor Networks," International Workshop on Advanced Sensors, Structural Health Monitoring and Smart Structures, 2003. [doc] [pdf] [bib]
  42. Mechitov, Kirill, Sameer Sundresh, YoungMin Kwon, Gul Agha. "Cooperative Tracking with Binary-Detection Sensor Networks," Technical Report UIUCDCS-R-2003-2379, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  43. Sen, Koushik, Grigore Rosu. "Generating Optimal Monitors for Extended Regular Expressions," In Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Runtime Verification (RV'03), volume 89(2) of Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, Boulder, Colorado, USA, July 2003. Elsevier Science., 2003. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  44. Agha, Gul, WooYoung Kim, YoungMin Kwon, Kirill Mechitov, Sameer Sundresh. "Evaluation of Localization Services (Preliminary Report)," DARPA NEST Program, 2003. [pdf] [bib]
  45. Nielsen, Brian, Gul Agha. "Towards Reusable Real-Time Objects," Annals of Software Engineering: Special Volume on Real-Time Software Engineering, vol. 7, pp 257-282, 1999. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  46. Ren, Shangping, Gul Agha. "A Modular Approach for Programming Embedded Systems," in Frits Vaandrager and Grzegorz Rozenberg (editors), Embedded Systems, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 1494, pp 170-207, Springer-Verlag, 1998. [bib]
  47. Nielsen, Brian, Shangping Ren, Gul Agha. "Specification of Real-Time Interaction Constraints," in Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Object-Oriented Real-Time Computing, 9 pp, IEEE Computer Society, 1998. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  48. Ren, Shangping. "An Actor-Based Framework for Real-Time Coordination," PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997. [bib]
  49. Ren, Shangping, Gul Agha. "Source Code Level Infeasibility Detection on Declarative Timing Constraints Specified with RTsynchronizers," ACM SIGPLAN Workshop on Languages, Compilers, and Tools for Real-Time Systems, pp 1-10, 1997. [bib]
  50. Ren, Shangping, Gul Agha, Masahiko Saito. "A Modular Approach for Programming Distributed Real-Time Systems," Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, vol. 36, no. 1, pp 4-12, 1996. Also published in School on Embedded Systems, European Educational Forum 1996, pp 52-, 1996. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  51. Nielsen, Brian, Gul Agha. "Semantics for an Actor-Based Real-Time Language," in Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Real-Time Systems, pp 223-228, IEEE Computer Society, 1996. [pdf] [ps] [bib]
  52. Saito, Masahiko, Gul Agha. "A Modular Approach to Real-Time Synchronization," Proceedings of the Conference on Object Oriented Real-Time Systems, Special Issue of OOPS Messenger, vol. 7(1), pp 13-20, ACM Sigplan, 1996 (post-conference proceedings), 1996. [bib]
  53. Ren, Shangping, Gul Agha. "RTsynchronizer: Language Support for Real-Time Specifications in Distributed Systems," in Proceedings of ACM SIGPLAN Workshop on Languages, Compilers, and Tools for Real-Time Systems, June 1995. Also appeared in ACM Sigplan Notices, vol. 30, no. 11, pp 50-59, November, 1995. [pdf] [ps] [bib]