Sensor network
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A sensor network is a computer network of many, spacially distributed devices using sensors to monitor conditions at different locations, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion or pollutants. Usually these devices are small and inexpensive, so that they can be produced and deployed in large numbers, and so their resources in terms of energy, memory, computational speed and bandwidth are severely constrained. Each device is equipped with a radio transceiver, a small microcontroller, and an energy source, usually a battery. The devices use each other to transport data to a monitoring computer.
Sensor networks involve three areas: sensing, communications, and computation (hardware, software, algorithms). Very useful technologies are wireless database technology such as queries, used in a wireless sensor network, and network technology to communicate with other sensors, especially multihop routing protocols. For example, Zigbee is a wireless protocol used by Motorola in home control systems.
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Applications
Sensor networks are applied in a wide variety of areas, such as video surveillance, traffic monitoring, air traffic control, robotics, cars, home monitoring and manufacturing and industrial automation. One typical application in environmental monitoring is Sensor Web.
Operation
The networks self-organize. Data from the sensors is aggregated and analyzed by a computer outside the network. This computer is connected to the network by a special network node called a gateway node.
History
The early sensor network was applied for military purpose, like the Sound Surveillance System(SOSUS) during the Cold War. Modern research on sensor networks started around 1980 at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): Distributed Sensor Networks (DSN) program. Smaller computing chips, more capable sensors, wireless networks, and other new IT technologies are pushing the development of sensor networks.
See also
External references
- Cornell University research on sensor networks (http://www.cs.cornell.edu/johannes/papers/2003/cidr2003-sensor.pdf)
- Akyildiz, I.F., W. Su, Y. Sankarasubramaniam, E. Cayirci, "A Survey on Sensor Networks", IEEE Communications Magazine, August, 102-114(2002). pdf version (http://www-net.cs.umass.edu/cs791_sensornets/papers/akyildiz2.pdf)
- Chee-Yee Chong; Kumar, S.P., "Sensor networks: Evolution, opportunities, and challenges," Proc IEEE, August 2003. (pdf version (http://www-net.cs.umass.edu/cs791_sensornets/papers/chong.pdf))de:Sensornetz