EasiTest: A Multi-Radio Testbed for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper we propose a heterogeneous multi-radio testbed for wireless sensor networks. Sensor nodes with medium-high speed radio and medium-low speed radio, namely EZ271 and EZ521 respectively, are developed for the testbed. The testbed can support both the study and applications of large-scale, heterogeneous sensor networks. An administration platform is provided to monitor and control the testbed. EasiTest enjoys high flexibility, powerful processing capability and ease of expansion. The performance of sensing, data collecting, data management, resource allocation, server status checking, nodes status checking and configuration, resources resignation and share modulus can be evaluated in the testbed. We can also config the preferences, resign the resources and share the resources via the friendly user interface of the testbed, where various protocols such as 802.15.4 and 802.11 can be tested by users. Multiple layer protocols can also be tested in the testbed which can greatly improve the research and deployment efficiency of various types of sensor networks. EasiTest provides a powerful tool not only for the study and evaluation of large scale, heterogeneous sensor networks, but also for quick prototyping of practical WSN applications. To demonstrate the capability of the testbed, data transmission with single-radio and multi-radio are tested on this testbed, and the results are also given.