Konark - Ad-Hoc Service Discovery

Overview

The proliferation of mobile devices and the pervasiveness of wireless technology have provided a major temptation to replicate the network-based service discovery technologies in wireless andmobile networks. However, existing service discovery protocols and delivery mechanisms fall short of accommodating the complexities of the ad-hoc environment. They also lay emphasis on devices rather than software services, making them unsuitable for m-commerce oriented scenarios. Konark is a service discovery and delivery protocol designed specifically for ad-hoc, peer-to-peer networks, and targeted towards m-commerce oriented software services. Konark has two major aspects - service discovery and advertisement, and service description and delivery. Konark uses a tree-based structure for storing services. This tree is used for the registration and advertisement of services on a mobile device, and the discovery of services on other devices in the environment. The approach towards service description is XML based. It includes a description template that allows services to be described in a human and software understandable forms. A micro HTTP server present on each device handles service delivery, which is based on SOAP. Along with the development of a design, ongoing efforts in Konark also include an implementation of the protocol for Personal Java based virtual machines. Currently, we have an implementation on WinCE 3.0 based iPAQs running Jeode virtual machine from Insignia.

Objective

The overall self describing sensor network approach is based on the need to provide a scalable, plug and play, smart sensor network that is more flexible and maintainable. The approach leverages both mature and new technologies and standards to develop the system architecture composed of the sensor platform architecture, sensor network hierarchy, and associated software framework. The main approach consists of empowering the sensor network by using surrogate code located on the sensor node to allow interpretation of the data and sensor node control. Our sensor network hardware platform includes RF communications, EEPROM for data storage, EEPROM for surrogate storage, and microprocessor for communication and data manipulation.

Tutorial and Examples

People

  • Dr. Sumi Helal
  • Dr. Choonhwa Lee
  • Pushkar Pradhan
  • Nitin Desai
  • Varun Verma

Publications

  • C. Lee, A. Helal, N. Desai, V. Verma, and B. Arslan, "Konark: A System and Protocols for Device Independent, Peer-to-Peer Discovery and Delivery of Mobile Services", the IEEE Transaction on Systems, Man and Cybernatics, Volume 33, Number 6, November 2003, pp682-696. (pdf)
  • Sumi Helal, Nitin Desai, Varum Verma and Choonhwa Lee, "Konark – A Service Discovery and Delivery Protocol for Ad-hoc Networks," Proceedings of the Third IEEE Conference on Wireless Communication Networks (WCNC), New Orleans, March 2003 (pdf).
  • Nitin Desai, Varun Verma and Sumi Helal, "Infrastructure for Peer-to-Peer Applications in Ad-Hoc Networks," Submitted to the 2nd International Workshop on Peer-to-Peer Systems (IPTPS '03), to be held in Berkeley, CA, February 2003 (pdf).
  • Pushkar Pradhan and Sumi Helal, "An Efficient Algorithm for Maintaining Consistent Group Membership in Ad Hoc Networks," Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mobile Distributed Computing (MDC'03), to be held in Providence, Rhode Island, May 2003 (pdf).