Wireless sensor network

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network made of thousands of nanocomputers with onboard sensor boards. The sensor nodes, currently the size of a 35 mm film canister, are self-contained units consisting of a battery, RF adapter, microcontroller, and sensor board. The nodes self-organize their networks, rather than having a pre-programmed network topology. Because of the limitations due to battery life, nodes are built with power conservation in mind, and generally spend large amounts of time in a low-power "sleep" mode or processing the sensor data. The two major academic centers for research in wireless sensor networks are CITRIS at Berkeley and CENS at UCLA.

Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS)

The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society at the University of California, Berkeley, currently directed by S. Shankar Sastry, is a major center of research and development into wireless sensor networks, and has used them to study microclimate variations in individual redwood trees [1].

Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)

The Center for Embedded Networked Systems (CENS) at the University of California, Los Angeles, directed by Deborah Estrin, is also a leading research center with $40 million in core funding from the National Science Foundation [2].

Tyndall National Institute (formerly NMRC)

The Microelectronic Applications Intergration (MAI), sector of the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland, headed by Dr. Cian O'Mathuna, is currently involved in developing microsensing and microactuation devices for use in miniaturised wireless sensor networks. In particular the Ambient Technology Group is developing modular interchangable hardware layers for use in many sensor network applications.

See also

• TinyOS
• Smartdust
• Mesh networking
• Sensor network
• Mobile ad-hoc network (MANETS)

• BTnodes

External link

• Overview of wireless sensor networks from the IEEE Computer Society.