TinyOS 2.0 Tutorials
Last updated 30 Oct 2006
These brief tutorials are intended to get you started with TinyOS. They show
you the basics of writing, compiling, and installing TinyOS applications.
They introduce the basic TinyOS abstractions: computation, communication,
sensing, and storage. The later tutorials go a little deeper into some of
the more advanced areas of TinyOS, such as handling interrupts,
power management, and how platforms are organized. For the beta2 release,
only tutorials 1-5 are ready.
Lesson 1 introduces the major concepts of TinyOS: components, modules,
configurations and interfaces. It shows you how to compile and install
a TinyOS program on a mote.
Lesson 2 explains the TinyOS execution model, looking more closely
at modules. It explains events, commands and their relationships to
interfaces in greater depth, introducing split-phase operations.
It explains tasks, the basic mechanism in TinyOS for components to
cooperatively share the processor.
Lesson 3 introduces the TinyOS communication model. There is an exercise that
illustrates sending and receiving messages.
Lesson 4 introduces the the TinyOS toolchain for PCs
and laptops to communicate with motes. It describes the
concept of a packet source, the mig tool,
and SerialForwarder.
Lesson 5 explains how to sample sensors in TinyOS. There is an exercise that
periodically samples a sensor and displays the value on the leds.
Lesson 6 details the boot sequence and, in doing so, answers the question, "But where is main()?".
Lesson 7: Storage
Lesson 7 introduces the TinyOS storage model. A sample
application illustrates storing data. This tutorial is currently
unfinished.
Lesson 8 introduces the TinyOS resource arbitration and power management model. There are two
exercises in this tutorial. The first one illustrates how to gain access to predefined shared resources.
The second one illustrates how to create your own shared resource. In both tutorials, the process for controlling
the power states of the resource is presented.
Lesson 9: Concurrency
Lesson 9 introduces the TinyOS concurrency model. Tasks are revisited and async code is introduced.
This tutorial is currently unfinished.
Lesson 10 provides a better understanding of the difference between "make
micaz" and "make telosb," including how these commands map into underlying
files, directories, and definitions. It is not necessary for most TinyOS
developers, but is included as a starter's guide for people who wish to
understand the make system better or wish to design a new platform.
Lesson 11 introduces TOSSIM, a TinyOS simulator. TOSSIM allows
you to compile your TinyOS applications into a simulation
framework, where you can perform reproducible tests and debug
your code with standard development tools.
Lesson 12 introduces two basic multihop protocols,
Dissemination and Collection. Dissemination reliably
delivers small data items to every node in a network,
while collection delivers small data items from every node
in a network to designated collection roots.
Lesson 13 describes the details of the TinyOS toolchain, including
the build system, how to create your own Makefile, and how to find out
more information on the various tools included with TinyOS.