WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

SEMINAR ABSTRACT

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY IN ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KARNATAKA, SURATHKAL SRINIVASNAGAR 575 025 KARNATAKA, INDIA

Submitted to: Dr. John D. Souza ECE Department NITK, Surathkal

Submitted by: Naveen P Kalro 08EC40

Wireless Sensor Networks

A wireless sensor network is a collection of nodes organized into a cooperative network. Each node consists of a sensor to monitor environmental data, a microcontroller capable of simple processing, an RF transceiver to enable wireless communication and a power source. Each sensor node is capable of only a limited amount of processing. But when coordinated with the information from a large number of other nodes, they have the ability to measure a given physical environment in great detail. Thus, a sensor network can be described as a collection of sensor nodes which co-ordinate to perform some specific action. Unlike traditional networks, sensor networks depend on dense deployment and co-ordination to carry out their tasks. While the capabilities of any single device are minimal, the composition of hundreds of devices offers radical new technological possibilities. The power of wireless sensor networks lies in the ability to deploy large numbers of tiny nodes that assemble and configure themselves. Usage scenarios for these devices range from real-time tracking, to monitoring of environmental conditions, to ubiquitous computing environments, to in situ monitoring of the health of structures or equipment. While often referred to as wireless sensor networks, they can also control actuators that extend control from cyberspace into the physical world. Wireless sensor networks are being extensively studied and form a major topic for current research. They have several characteristics which have generated interest in wireless sensor networks. The most important factor is that their deployment costs are minimal. Also they operate at very low power and can work on a small battery for several years. Another factor is that they are self configurable. This makes them ideal for monitoring remote, inaccessible locations like forests and report forest fires etc. Unlike traditional wireless devices, wireless sensor nodes do not need to communicate directly with the nearest high-power control tower or base station, but only with their local peers. This makes them very scalable and supports introduction of new nodes or expand to cover a larger geographic region. Additionally, the system can automatically adapt to compensate for node failures. The devices can reconfigure themselves when new nodes are added or some nodes fail and continue to send data for several years without need for replacement. Area monitoring is a common application of WSNs. In area monitoring, the WSN is deployed over a region where some phenomenon is to be monitored. A military example is the use of sensors to detect enemy intrusion; a civilian example is the geo-fencing of gas or oil pipelines. Vehicular sensing to study traffic patterns in a region is another application of WSN which is being explored. Environmental sensing is another application of WSN This includes sensing volcanoes, oceans, glaciers, forest fires, air pollution and greenhouse gas monitoring, landslide detection etc Wireless sensor networks have also been developed for machinery condition-based maintenance (CBM) as they offer significant cost savings and enable new functionalities. In wired systems, the installation of enough sensors is often limited by the cost of wiring. Previously inaccessible locations, rotating machinery, hazardous or restricted areas, and mobile assets can now be reached with wireless sensors. Wireless sensor networks are also being increasingly used in agriculture to detect temperature, light levels and soil moisture.

There are several challenges associated with the implementation of wireless senor networks. A core design challenge in wireless sensor networks is coping with the harsh resource constraints placed on the individual devices. Embedded processors with kilobytes of memory must implement complex, distributed, ad-hoc networking protocols. The most difficult resource constraint to meet is power consumption. The power sources, usually batteries, have a finite capacity and power consumption should be minimal to ensure long term of operation. A wireless sensor network platform must provide support for a suite of application-specific protocols that drastically reduce node size, cost, and power consumption for their target application. Thus the platform, protocols and hardware need to be chosen depending on the type of application. I would like to highlight the following topics related to wireless sensor networks Wireless sensor networks, an overview Characteristics of wireless sensor nodes Applications of wireless sensor networks Concepts of data aggregation, ad hoc routing and distributed processing Practical considerations and challenges Vision for the future of Wireless Sensor Networks