Overview

Education:

Degree Institution Year Field
Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis 2009 Computer Science
B.S. Washington University in St. Louis 2002 Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests

Research Projects

Servilla

Servilla

Project Website: http://mobilab.cse.wustl.edu/projects/servilla/

Servilla is the first service-oriented middleware to function entirely within heterogeneous and dynamic wireless sensor networks (WSNs), enabling in-network interactions via dynamic service binding, and invocation. Developing Servilla required overcoming significant challenges due to resource scarcity, device heterogeneity, and network dynamics. Novel forms of service bindings, service invocations, and adaptation strategies, were developed to address these challenges. Using Servilla, developers can create platform-independent applications that can still exploit platform-specific capabilities and seamlessly adapt to changing network topologies. Servilla is implemented in TinyOS, and its source code is published under and open-source license on its website, which is listed below. Experience with two application case studies (structural health monitoring and medical patient monitoring), indicate that Servilla can exploit network heterogeneity to increase energy efficiency, while increasing reliability in a dynamic network.

Agilla

Agilla Fire Detection

Project Website: http://mobilab.cse.wustl.edu/projects/agilla/

Agilla is a middleware that facilitates self-adaptive WSN applications. It is among the first to offer both mobile agent and tuple space programming models for developing WSN applications. By merging these two models, Agilla enables WSN applications to restructure themselves in response to a changing environment. To demonstrate this, a fire detection and tracking application was implemented using Agilla that dynamically adjusts itself to maintain a perimeter around a spreading wildfire. This case study illustrates Agilla’s ability to provide a fluid software infrastructure for WSNs. Agilla was also used in a system called Agimone that integrates multiple WSNs with the Internet. Agimone’s utility was illustrated by an implementation of a cargo container monitoring application. Agilla and Agimone’s source codes are available under an open-source license on Agilla’s website, which is listed below.

Limone

Limone

Project Website: http://mobilab.cse.wustl.edu/projects/limone/

Limone is a novel coordination model and middleware for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Unlike most other coordination models for MANETs, Limone does not assume any knowledge about when wireless links form or break. Instead, the model starts with the minimalist assumption that a single round-trip message exchange is possible, and derives a reasonable set of lightweight primitives with precise functional guarantees that support fundamental coordination concerns. Central to the model is the organization of all coordination activities around an acquaintance list that reflects the local view of the global operating context, and whose composition is subject to customizable admission policies. From the application's perspective, all interactions with other components take place by referring to members of the acquaintance list. By relying on a minimalist set of assumptions, Limone offers an expressive model that enjoys an effective implementation likely to transfer to many MANET environments. A case study involving a universal remote application is used to demonstrate Limone's efficacy. Limone's source code is released under an open-source license on its website, which is given below.

Publications

Journal Papers

  1. Fok, C., Roman, G., and Lu, C. “Agilla: A Mobile Agent Middleware for Self-Adaptive Wireless Sensor Networks.” In ACM Trans. Auton. Adapt. Syst. Special Issue on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Wireless Networking Systems. 4, 3 (Jul. 2009), 1-26.
  2. Bhattacharya, S., Fok, C., Lu, C., and Roman, G. “MLDS: A Flexible Location Directory Service for Tiered Sensor Networks.” In Computer Communications. 31, 6 (Apr. 2008), 1160-1172.

Conference Papers

  1. Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C., and Lu, C. “Enhanced Coordination in Sensor Networks through Flexible Service Provisioning.” In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Coordination Models and Languages (Coordination’09), June 2009. Note: Invited to a special issue of Science of Computer Programming on the Best Papers from Coordination'09.
  2. Bhattacharya, S., Fok, C.-L., Lu, C., and Roman, G.-C. “Design and Implementation of a Flexible Location Directory Service for Tiered Sensor Networks.” In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS'07), June 2007.
  3. Hackmann, G., Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C., and Lu, C. “Agimone: Middleware Support for Seamless Integration of Sensor and IP Networks.” In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS'06), June 2006.
  4. Massaguer, D., Fok, C.-L., Venkatasubramanian, N., Roman, G.-C., and Lu. “Exploring Sensor Networks using Mobile Agents.” In Proceedings of the Fifth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS’06), May 2006.
  5. Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C., and Lu, C. “Mobile Agent Middleware for Sensor Networks: An Application Case Study.” In Proceedings of the 4th international Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN’05), April 2005. Google Citation count: 116, Acceptance Ratio: 20.6% (44/213)
  6. Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C., and Lu, C. “Rapid Development and Flexible Deployment of Adaptive Wireless Sensor Network Applications.” In Proceedings of the 25th IEEE international Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS’05), June 2005. Note: One of 5 papers nominated for Best Paper Award (543 papers submitted). Google Citation Count: 191, Acceptance Ratio: 13.8% (75/543)
  7. Lu, C., Xing, G., Chipara, O., Fok, C.-L., and Bhattacharya, S. “A Spatiotemporal Query Service for Mobile Users in Sensor Networks.” In Proceedings of the 25th IEEE international Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS’05), June 2005.
  8. E.H. Clayton, B.H. Koh, G. Xing, C.-L. Fok, S.J. Dyke and C. Lu. “Damage Detection and Correlation Based Localization Using Wireless Mote Sensors.” In Proceedings of the 13th IEEE Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED’05), June 2005.
  9. Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C, and Hackmann, G., “A Lightweight Coordination Middleware for Mobile Computing.” In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Coordination Models and Languages (Coordination’04), February 2004.

Book Chapters

  1. Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C., Lu, C. 2006. “Software Support for Application Development in Wireless Sensor Network.” A. Corradi and P. Bellavista (editors), Handbook of Mobile Middleware, CRC Press, September 2006.

Workshop Papers

  1. Fok, C., Roman, G., and Lu, C. 2007. “Towards a Flexible Global Sensing Infrastructure.” In SIGBED Rev. 4, 3 (Jul. 2007), 1-6.

Demonstrations

  1. Sun, F., Fok, C.-L., and Roman, G.-C. “sChat: A Group Communication Service Over Wireless Sensor Networks.” In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN’07), April 2007.
  2. Bhattacharya, S., Fok, C.-L., Lu, C., and Roman, G.-C. “A Hierarchical Location Directory Service Across Sensor and IP Networks.” In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (Sensys’06), November 2006.
  3. Hackmann, G., Fok, C.-L., Roman, G.-C., Lu, C., Zuver, C., English, K., and Meier, J. “Agile Cargo Tracking Using Mobile Agents.” In Proceedings of the 3rd international Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (Sensys’05), November 2005.
  4. Bhattacharya, S., Chipara, O., Harris, B., Lu, C., Xing, G., and Fok, C.-L. “MobiQuery: A Spatiotemporal Data Service for Sensor Networks.” In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (Sensys’04), November 2004.

Under Review

  1. Fok, C., Roman, G., and Lu, C. “Servilla: a Flexible Service Provisioning Middleware for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks.” Submitted to The Science of Computer Programming, Special Issue on the Best Papers From Coordination 2009.
  2. Fok, C., Roman, G., and Lu, C. “Adaptive Service Provisioning for Wireless Sensor Networks.” Submitted to The 30th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS’10).
  3. Xing, G., Bhattacharya, S., Lu, C., Chipara, O., Fok, C.-L., and Roman, G.-C. "Design and Analysis of Just-in-Time Prefetching Protocols for MobiQuery". Submitted to The ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems.