WIRELESS SENSOR

NETWORKS

TEXT BOOK:
Protocols

and Architectures for Wireless

Sensor Networks Holger Karl and Andreas
Willig.

References:
Wireless

Sensor Networks by Feng Zhao &

Leonidas J.Guibas.
Wireless Sensor Networks-Technology, Protocols
and Applications by Kazem Sohrab.
Wireless Sensor Network Design by Anna Hac.

UNIT-I
OVERVIEW OF WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Contents:
Challenges

of WSN
Characteristic requirements
Required mechanisms

Mobile

ad-hoc networks and WSN differences

Applications of WSN
Enabling Technologies
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WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS:

Sensor:
An Electronic device which monitors or senses the
surrounding environments.
Network:
A group or combination of devices with some medium in
between them to communicate.
Communication between the nodes is Wireless
Communication, therefore
Node:

sensing

+ processing + communication

APPLICATIONS OF WSNS

Constant monitoring & detection of specific events

Military, battlefield surveillance

Forest fire & flood detection

Habitat exploration of animals

Patient monitoring

Home appliances

APPLICATIONS OF WIRELESS
SENSOR NETWORKS
The applications can be divided in three categories:
1.
Monitoring of objects.
2.
Monitoring of an area.
3.
Monitoring of both area and objects.

MONITORING AREA
Environmental and Habitat Monitoring
Precision Agriculture
Indoor Climate Control
Military Surveillance
Treaty Verification
Intelligent Alarms

EXAMPLE: PRECISION
AGRICULTURE
Precision agriculture aims at
making operations more
efficient, while reducing
environmental impact.

The information collected from sensors is used to

evaluate optimum sowing density, estimate
fertilizers and other inputs needs, and to more
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accurately predict crop yields.

MONITORING OBJECTS
Structural Monitoring
Eco-physiology
Condition-based Maintenance
Medical Diagnostics
Urban terrain mapping

EXAMPLE: CONDITION-BASED
MAINTENANCE

Intel fabrication plants

Sensors

collect vibration data, monitor wear and tear;

report data in real-time

Reduces

need for a team of engineers; cutting costs by

several orders of magnitude

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MONITORING INTERACTIONS
BETWEEN OBJECTS AND SPACE
Wildlife Habitats
Disaster Management
Emergency Response
Ubiquitous Computing
Asset Tracking
Health Care
Manufacturing Process Flows

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EXAMPLE: HABITAT MONITORING

The ZebraNet Project

Collar-mounted sensors monitor zebra
movement in Kenya

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SMART HOME / SMART OFFICE

Sensors

controlling
appliances and electrical
devices in the house.
Better lighting and
heating in office buildings.
The Pentagon building has
used sensors extensively.

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BIOMEDICAL / MEDICAL

Health Monitors
Glucose
Heart

rate
Cancer detection

Chronic Diseases
Artificial

retina
Cochlear implants

Hospital Sensors
Monitor

vital signs
Record anomalies

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INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL

Numerous

industrial and commercial

applications:
Agricultural

Crop Conditions
Inventory Tracking
In-Process Parts Tracking
Automated Problem Reporting
RFID Theft Deterrent and Customer Tracing
Plant Equipment Maintenance Monitoring
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TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT &

MONITORING

Future cars could use

wireless sensors to:
Handle

Accidents
Handle Thefts

Sensors embedded

in the roads to:

Monitor traffic flows

Provide real-time
route updates

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MILITARY
Remote deployment of
sensors for tactical
monitoring of enemy troop
movements.

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COMPARISON WITH AD HOC

WIRELESS NETWORKS

Both consist of wireless nodes but they are

different.
The

number of nodes is very large

Being
Not

more prone to failure, energy drain

having unique global IDs

Data-centric,

centric

Resource

query-based addressing vs. address-

limitations: memory, power, processing

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DESIGN ISSUES & CHALLENGES

Random deployment autonomous setup &
maintenance
Infrastructure-less networks distributed
routing
Energy, the major constraint trading off
network lifetime for fault tolerance or accuracy of
results
Hardware energy efficiency
Distributed synchronization
Adapting to changes in connectivity
Real-time communication, QoS
Security

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REQUIRED MECHANISMS

Multi-hop wireless communication

Energy efficient operation

Auto configuration

Collaboration and in-network processing

Data centric

Locality

Exploit trade-offs

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ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES

Miniaturization of hardware

Low power consumption

Improved energy efficiency

Cost reduction

Energy scavenging (in some applications)

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