This research develops a transformative pulse switching framework for light-weight networking applications. It abstracts a single pulse, as opposed to data packets, as the information switching granularity. Pulse switching is shown to be sufficient for on-off style event monitoring applications such as building or bridge structural health monitoring with ultra-thin energy budgets, especially when the energy is harvested from structural vibrations, ambient temperature variations or the mechanical perturbations caused by an event itself. An observable event can be coded as a pulse, which is transported multi-hop while preserving sufficient amount of spatio-temporal information about the event in question. Zero collisions, zero buffering, no addressing, no packet processing, and an ultra-low energy budget makes the framework applicable for networking between embedded devices with ultra-tight energy budgets. This research involves: 1) developing a joint MAC-Routing abstraction for pulse switching, 2) mapping the pulse switching architecture on Ultra Wideband (UWB) impulse radio, 3) designing multi-sink and peer-to-peer pulse routing protocols, and 4) constructing a prototype pulse-switched network using UWB hardware. Impacts of this research includes a potential transformation of the area of low-information networking by replacing the traditional concept of packet switching by pulse switching in the realm of energy-constrained event monitoring. Expected results will include a joint MAC-routing architecture and its performance in an Ultra Wideband pulse networking system. This research is considered to be a key enabler for emerging cross-disciplinary research and applications including structural health monitoring, bio-medical body-area sensing, earthquake engineering, environmental monitoring, and disaster management through ultra-light packet-less communication.
