MansOS PC Emulation

Before deploying sensor network application on real motes, MansOS allows program debugging on PC platform. Virtual mote network can be simulated.

Two steps are required, described in the following sections

Step 1: Create a virtual "cloud"

To emulate radio communication medium, a virtual "cloud" proxy program is available under mansos/pc/proxy. To compile it:

cd mansos/pc/proxy
make

To run it after compilation:

make run

It acts as a TCP server and opens socket for incoming connections. Administrator permissions may be required for it.

The virtual cloud acts as a hub - it forwards a packet received from a virtual mote to all other virtual motes connected to the cloud.

This proxy program must be running to allow virtual mote communication. It also displays some debug information about traveling packets. It can be terminated by pressing Ctrl+C.

Step 2: Connect virtual motes to the cloud

Compile your mote application for the pc platform:

make pc

After compilation run the virtual mote:

make pc run

It will automatically connect to the virtual cloud and exchange messages with it, if radio communication is used in the application.

Example

To see this method in action, try mansos/apps/demo/RadouCountToLeds application, which sends counter over radio periodically and displays received counter on LEDs and serial port (print onto the screen on PC platform).