Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks

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

• Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks

• Dense Node Deployment
• Sensor nodes are usually densely deployed in a fi eld of interest. The number of sensor nodes in a sensor network can be several orders of magnitude higher than that in a MANET.
• Battery - Powered Sensor Nodes.
• Sensor nodes are usually powered by battery. In most situations, they are deployed in a harsh or hostile environment, where it is very diffi cult or even impossible to change or recharge the batteries.
• Severe Energy, Computation, and Storage Constraints.
• Sensor nodes are highly limited in energy, computation, and storage capacities.

• Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks

Self - Confi gurable.

• Self - Confi gurable.
• Sensor nodes are usually randomly deployed without careful planning and engineering. Once deployed, sensor nodes have to autonomously configure themselves into a communication network.
• Application Specific.
• Sensor networks are application specifi c. A network is usually designed and deployed for a specifi c application. The design requirements of a network change with it’s a.pplication

• Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks

• Unreliable Sensor Nodes.
• Sensor nodes are usually deployed in harsh or hostile environments and operate without attendance. They are prone to physical damages or failures.
• Frequent Topology Change.
• Network topology changes frequently due to node failure, damage, addition, energy depletion, or channel fading.
• No Global Identifi cation.
• Due to the large number of sensor nodes, it is usually not possible to build a global addressing scheme for a sensor network because it would introduce a high overhead for the identifi cation maintenance.

• Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks

Many - to - One Traffic Pattern.

• Many - to - One Traffic Pattern.
• In most sensor network applications, the data sensed by sensor nodes fl ow from multiple source sensor nodes to a particular sink, exhibiting a many to one traffi c pattern.
• Data Redundancy.
• In most sensor network applications, sensor nodes are densely deployed in a region of interest and collaborate to accomplish a common sensing task. Thus, the data sensed by multiple sensor nodes typically have a certain level of correlation or redundancy.

• Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks