Dr. Andreas Meier

I left my research position at ETH Zurich in August 2010. I was a member of the Computer Engineering Group (TEC) in the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory (TIK) at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITET).

This is a condensed version of my former research webpage and is not maintained.

Contact:
If you have a question concerning one of my publications, please contact those co-authors still in academia. You will have a much better chance for a (quick) response.

My private webpage can be found here.

Short Academic Autobiography

Dr. Andreas Meier received his MSc degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2005. He did parts of his bachelor studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and wrote his Master thesis at the DaimlerChrysler Research & Development North America, Inc. He received his PhD degree from ETH Zurich in June 2009 for his research on "Safety-Critical Wireless Sensor Networks". During his PhD he was a visiting researcher at the National University of Singapore from November 2007 until March 2008. He continued his research in the domain of networked embedded systems until August 2010.

Research Projects

Networked Embedded Systems

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of small devices to monitor the environment. The devices usually consist of a microcontroller, a radio transceiver, multiple sensors and an energy source with very limited capacity (usually a battery).

My research targeted data collection applications, where the sensor nodes report their measurements, periodically and/or event based, to a central station. My dissertation focused on safety-critical applications that require energy efficient and reliable data transfer with real time constraints (e.g., wireless fire-alarm systems):

• Design, simulation and implementation of Routing algorithms/protocols for energy efficient event reporting with latency constraints: The novel communication strategy, Dwarf, ensures a robust and timely forwarding of alarm messages, despite having the sensor nodes powered off most of the time. The protocol DiMo allows the distributed monitoring of the nodes and the network topology with minimal communication overhead. In conjunction, Dwarf and DiMo enable safety-critical networking.
• Analytical framework for analyzing and comparing WSN MAC protocols: The framework provides deep insight into the behavior of WSN MAC protocols and provides the first available solution for benchmarking. This provides the means for selecting the most suitable MAC protocol for an application at hand.
• Initialization and maintenance of WSNs: There are many protocols allowing (energy) efficient operation of an application/network. However, the maintenance and initialization costs are usually neglected. The NoSE protocol enhancement allows for considerable energy savings while maintaining the sensor network and allows for a swift and dependable initialization.
• This and that:
  • Analyzing and estimating link qualities in wireless sensor networks.
  • Optimization of MAC protocol parameters at runt time for increasing the energy efficiency.
  • Synchronization of wireless sensor networks.

PDFCrack

A multi-core and multi-computer extension of PDFCrack v. 0.11: A password recovery tool for PDF-files. Download sources and executable from the project page.

Vehicular Safety Communication

Design of a vehicular safety communication architecture for the 5.9 GHz Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC).

Publications

These electronic documents are presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. All rights are retained by the authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these documents may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

This word cloud is generated from all abstracts using Wordle. Fullscale version.

Books

1. A. Meier: Safety-Critical Wireless Sensor Networks. PhD Thesis, ETH Zurich, No. 18451, June, 2009. Shaker Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8322-8563-0.
   PDF | Abstract - PDF | BibTeX | Amazon.de | Amazon.com

Patents

1. A. Meier, M. Strasser and P. Blum: Zuverlässiges und schnelles Übertragungsverfahren für Multihop Funk Gefahrenmeldesysteme. European Patent: 07105778.0, April 2007.

Journal Papers

1. K. Langendoen and A. Meier: Analyzing MAC Protocols for Low Data-Rate Applications. ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks (ToSN), Vol. 7 No. 1, pages 1-34, August 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
2. D. Jiang, V. Taliwal, A. Meier, and W. Holfelder: Design of 5.9 GHz DSRC-based Vehicular Safety Communication. IEEE Wireless Communications, Vol. 13 No. 5, pages 36-43, October 2006.
   PDF | BibTeX

Conference Papers

1. A. Meier, M. Woehrle, M. Zimmerling, and L. Thiele: Zerocal: Automatic MAC Protocol Calibration. Proc. 6th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS 2010), pages 31-44, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, June, 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
2. F. Ferrari, A. Meier and L. Thiele: Secondis: An Adaptive Dissemination Protocol for Synchronizing Wireless Sensor Networks. Proc. 7th Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh, and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks (SECON 2010), pages 1-9, Boston, USA, June, 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
3. D. Hasenfratz, A. Meier, C. Moser, J. Chen, and L. Thiele: Analysis, Comparison, and Optimization of Routing Protocols for Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks. Proc. Third IEEE International Conference on Sensor Networks, Ubiquitous, and Trustworthy Computing (SUTC 2010), pages 19-26, Newport Beach, California, USA, June, 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
4. M. Woehrle, A. Meier and K. Langendoen: On the Potential of Software Rejuvenation for Long-Running Sensor Network Deployments (position paper). Proc. Workshop on Software Engineering for Sensor Network Applications (SESENA 2010), pages 44-48, Kapstadt, South Afrika, May, 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
5. F. Ferrari, A. Meier and L. Thiele: Accurate Clock Models for Simulating Wireless Sensor Networks. Proc. 3rd International Workshop on OMNeT++, pages 1-4, Malaga, Spain, March, 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
6. A. Meier, M. Woehrle, M. Weise, J. Beutel, and L. Thiele: NoSE: Efficient Maintenance and Initialization of Wireless Sensor Networks. Proc. Sixth Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh, and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks (SECON 2009), pages 1-9, Rome, Italy, June, 2009.
   PDF | BibTeX
7. J. Beutel, S. Gruber, A. Hasler, R. Lim, A. Meier, C. Plessl, I. Talzi, L. Thiele, C. Tschudin, M. Woehrle, M. Yuecel: PermaDAQ: A scientific instrument for precision sensing and data recovery in environmental extremes. Proc. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN 2009), pages 265-276, San Francisco, USA, April, 2009.
   PDF | BibTeX
8. A. Meier, M. Motani, H.Siquan and S. Künzli: DiMo: Distributed Node Monitoring in WSNs. Proc. 11th ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM 2008), pages 117-121, Vancouver, Canada, October 2008.
   PDF | BibTeX
9. A. Meier, T. Rein, J. Beutel and L. Thiele: Coping with Unreliable Channels: Efficient Link Estimation for Low-Power Wireless Sensor Networks. Proc. 5th Intl Conf. Networked Sensing Systems (INSS 2008), pages 19-26, Kanazawa, Japan, June 2008.
   PDF | BibTeX
10. M. Strasser, A. Meier, K. Langendoen and P. Blum: Dwarf: Delay-aWAre Robust Forwarding for Energy-Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks. Proc. of the 3rd IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS 2007). Santa Fee, New Mexico, USA , June 2007.
    PDF | BibTeX
11. A. Meier, J. Beutel, R. Lim and L. Thiele: Design of a High-Reliability Low Power Status Monitoring Protocol. Proc. 4th Intl Conf. Networked Sensing Systems (INSS 2007). Braunschweig, Germany, June 2007.
    PDF | BibTeX
12. A. Meier and J. Thompson: Cooperative Diversity in Wireless Networks. Proc. 6th International Conference on 3G and Beyond (3G2005), pages 35-39, London, UK, November 2005.
    PDF | BibTeX

Posters

1. D. Hasenfratz, A. Meier, L. Thiele, M. Woehrle and M. Zimmerling: Poster Abstract: If You Have Time, Save Energy with Pull. Proc. 8th ACM Conf. Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys 2010), pages to appear, Zurich, Switzerland, November, 2010.
   PDF | BibTeX
2. J. Beutel, R. Lim, A. Meier, L. Thiele, C. Walser, M. Woehrle and M. Yuecel: Poster Abstract: The FlockLab Testbed Architecture. Proc. 7th ACM Conf. Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys 2009), pages 415--416, Berkeley, CA, USA, November, 2009 -- Best Poster Award.
   PDF | BibTeX | Poster-PDF
3. M. Keller, J. Beutel, A. Meier, R. Lim and L. Thiele: Poster Abstract: Learning from Sensor Network Data. Proc. 7th ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys 2009), Berkeley, CA, November 2009.
   PDF | BibTeX | Poster-PDF
4. J. Beutel, S. Gruber, A. Hasler, R. Lim, A. Meier, C. Plessl, I. Talzi, L. Thiele, C. Tschudin, M. Woehrle, M. Yuecel: Demo Abstract: Operating a Sensor Network at 3500m Above Sea Level. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN 2009), pages 405-406, San Francisco, USA, April, 2009.
   PDF | BibTeX
5. R. Lim, M. Woehrle, A. Meier and J. Beutel: Poster Abstract: Harvester - Low-power Environment Monitoring out of the box. Proc. 6th European Workshop on Sensor Networks (EWSN 2009), pages to appear, Cork, Ireland, February 2009.
   PDF | BibTeX | Poster-PDF
6. A. Meier, M. Weise, J. Beutel, and L. Thiele: Poster Abstract: NoSE: Neighbor Search and Link Estimation for a Fast and Energy Efficient Initialization of WSNs. Proc. 6th ACM Conf. Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys 2008), pages 397-398, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, November 2008.
   PDF | BibTeX | Poster-PDF

Master and Semester Thesis

1. Andreas Meier – Master Thesis: 5.9 GHz DSRC – Design of the Vehicular Safety Communication Architecture. Advisor: Daniel Jiang, Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Lothar Thiele, August 2005.
   PDF | BibTeX
2. Andreas Meier – Semester Project: Database to Analyse Genome Data. Advisor: Amela Prelic, Stefan Bleuler, Supervisor:Prof. Dr. Eckart Zitzler, August 2005.
   PDF (german)
3. Andreas Meier, Simon Heimlicher – Semester Project: Information-Theoretically Secure Key Agreement from Arbitrarily Correlated Information. Advisor: Renato Renner, Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ueli Maurer, August 2004.
   PDF
4. Andreas Meier – Semester Project: Co-operative Diversity in Wireless Networks. Supervisor: Dr. John Thompson, March 2004.
   PDF | Matlab Sources

Academic Activities

Technical Program Committee

• ICCCN 2010 - WNET Track International Conference on Computer Communication Networks

Reviews

• INSS 2010
• EWSN 2010
• Elsevier - Computer Networks (COMNET)
• S-CUBE 2009
• EWSN 2009
• ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks (ToSN)
• SECON 2008
• EmNets 2007
• INSS 2007
• EWSN 2007
• SenSys 2006

Talks

1. ZeroCal: Automatic MAC Protocol Calibration. DCOSS'10, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, June 2010
   PDF
2. Analysis, Comparison, and Optimization of Routing Protocols for Energy Harvesting WSNs. SUTC'10, Newport Beach, CA, USA, June 2010.
   PDF
3. NoSE: Maintenance and Initialization of WSNs. SECON'09, Rome, Italy, June 2009.
   PDF
4. Safety-Critical Wireless Sensor Networks. PhD Defense, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, June 2009.
   PDF
5. Online Daten vom Matterhorn. Technikwoche Gymnasium Schiers, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, February 2009.
   PDF
6. DiMo: Distributed Node Monitoring in Wireless Sensor Networks. MSWiM'08, Vancouver, Canada, October 2008.
   PDF
7. Coping with Unreliable Channels: Efficient Link Estimation for WSNs. INSS'08, Kanazawa, Japan, June 2008.
   PDF
8. DiMo - Distributed Node Monitoring for Wireless Sensor Networks. Siemens Building Technologies, Zug, Switzerland, April 2008.
9. Safety Critical Low Power WSNs: Requirements & Implications. National University of Singapore, Singapore, November 2007.
   PDF
10. NoSE - Neighbor Search and Lin Estimation for an Efficient Initialization of WSNs. Siemens Building Technologies, Zug, Switzerland, October 2007.
11. Analyzing MAC Protocols for Low Data-Rate Applications. MICS Workshop Neuchâtel 2007, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, July 2007.
    PDF
12. Dwarf: Delay-aWAre Robust Forwarding for Energy-Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks. DCOSS'07, Santa Fe, NM, USA, June 2007.
    PDF
13. Design of a High-Reliability Low Power Status Monitoring Protocol. INSS'07, Braunschweig, Germany, June 2007.
    PDF
14. Analyzing MAC Protocols for Low Data-Rate Applications. ETHZ, Zurich, Switzerland, May 2007.
15. Fire Sensor Network - An FDMA/TDMA Approach. Siemens Building Technologies, Zug, Switzerland, October 2006.
16. DWARF - A Reliable Delay Aware Forwarding Algorithm. Siemens Building Technologies, Zug, Switzerland, April 2006.

Teaching Assistance

I assisted in the teaching of the following lectures:

• Technische Informatik 1  [HS08|HS09]
• Embedded Systems  [FS08|FS09|FS10]
• PPS Lego Mindstorms  [WS05/06|SS06|WS06/07|SS07]
• There is short movie (German) available, featuring the different aspects of the Lego Mindstorms PPS.

Supervised Master and Semester Theses

1. David Hasenfratz: Push vs. Pull in Wireless Sensor Networks, Master Thesis, SS 2010.
2. Aldo Bazzi: Neighbor Discovery and Topology Construction of Wireless Sensor Networks, Master Thesis, SS 2009.
   PDF
3. Christoph Walser: Wireless Sensor Network Testbed 2.0: A new service oriented architecture, Master Thesis, WS 200809.
   PDF
4. Mischa Weise: Energy Efficient Initialization of WSNs, Master Thesis, SS 2007.
   PDF
5. Roman Amstutz: Wake-up Time Estimation for a Wireless MAC Protocol, Semester Project, SS 2007.
   PDF
6. Severin Hafner: Distributed Spy-Software Tool - WSNSpy, Master Thesis, SS 2007.
   PDF
7. Tobias Rein: Energy and Time Efficient Link-Quality Estimation for WSNs, Master Thesis, WS 200607.
   PDF
8. Martin Wirz: BTnode Application for Automated Link Measurements, Semester Project, WS 200607.
   PDF
9. Roman Lim: Fire-sensor Demonstrator, Master Thesis, SS 2006.
   PDF
10. Claudia Frischknecht, Thomas Other: Mindstorms Next Generation, Semester Project, SS 2006.
    PDF | LEGO Mindstorms NXT - Project Results

© 2010 Andreas Meier | Last updated: 25 August 2010