Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Introduction to Wireless
Sensor Networks
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hirdEraofComputing..............................
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. WhatAreWirelessSensorNetworks? ................
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TypicalScenariosandApplications...................
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Stefan Dulman
University of Twente
. DesignChallenges ...................................
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Locally Available Resources
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Diversity and Dynamics
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Needed Algorithms
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Dependability
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Conclusions..........................................
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Paul J. M. Havinga
University of Twente
References .................................................
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The start of the “Wireless Sensor Network” research field can be associated with the Smart Dust
project []. Due to technological advances (and lots of imagination), building small-sized, energy-
efficient reliable devices, capable of communicating with each other and organizing themselves in
ad hoc networks became possible. These devices brought a new perspective to the world of com-
puters as we know it: they could be embedded into the environment in such a way that the user
is unaware of them. The need for reconfiguration and maintenance disappeared as the network
organized itself to inform the users of the most relevant events detected or to assist them in their
activity.
The first approach taken by the research community was to adapt the mature networking and
data dissemination algorithms coming from the already existing networks to the problem at hand. It
became pretty soon obvious that this approach had limited chances of success in front of the severe
limiting factors the new technology imposed (lack of energy, lack of bandwidth, lack of communi-
cation power, dynamics of environment, unreliability, etc.). A new field of research was thus born
from the need of solving (some already known) problems under a new and very restrictive set of
assumptions.
This chapter will give a brief overview of the wireless sensor network area, by introducing the
building concepts to the reader. hen, a number of applications as well as possible typical scenarios
will be presented to better understand the field of application of this new emerging technology. Up to
this moment, several main areas of applications have been identified. New areas of applications are
still to be discovered as the research and products grow more mature.
Wireless sensor networks bring lots of challenges and often contradictory demands from the
design point of view. The last part of the chapter will be dedicated to highlighting the main direc-
tionsofresearchinvolvedinthisield.Itwillserveasabriefintroductiontotheproblemstobe
described in the following chapters of the topic.
