Improvement of energy consumption for “over-the-air” reprogramming in Wireless Sensor Networks

New hardware platform architecture for “over-the-air” reprogramming in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is presented in this article. The suggested approach is based on the usage of microcontroller RAM memory for running the program while the program memory is being changed. Implementation of suggested solution does not require any additional components and is applicable to a wide range of microcontrollers in new designs or provide possibility to add “over-the-air” reprogramming feature to existing applications without necessity of making hardware changes. The presented approach allows a lowering of the power consumption of the nodes and time for node reprogramming comparing with other reported solutions. Summary of our experiences in practical implementation using Texas Instruments (TI) EZ430-RF2500 and CC2430 DK development boards and discussion about some key features of suggested “over-the-air” reprogramming method are included.