Cognitive sensor platforms are the next step in the evolution of intelligent sensor platforms. These platforms have the capability to reason about both their external environment and internal conditions and to modify their processing behavior and configuration in a continuing effort to optimize their operational life and functional utility. The addition of cognitive capabilities is necessary for unattended sensor systems as it is generally not feasible to routinely replace the battery or the sensor(s). This platform provides a chassis that can be used to compose embedded sensor systems from composable elements. The composable elements adhere to a synchronous data flow (SDF) protocol to communicate between the elements using channels. The SDF protocol provides the capability to easily compose heterogeneous systems of multiple processing elements, sensor elements, debug elements and communications elements. The processing engine for this platform is a Dataflow-Processing Element (DPE) that receives, processes and dispatches SDF data tokens. The DPE is specifically designed to support the processing of SDF tokens using microcoded actors where programs are assembled by instantiating actors in a graphical modeling tool and verifying that the SDF protocol is adhered to. / text