Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
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Environmental applications
—Several aspects of the wildlife are being studied with the
help of sensor networks. Existing applications include the following: monitoring the
presence and the movement of birds, animals, and even insects; agricultural-related
projects observing the conditions of crops and livestock; environmental monitoring of
soil, water, and atmosphere contexts and pollution studies; etc. Other particular exam-
ples include forest ire monitoring, biocomplexity mapping of the environment, and flood
detection. Ongoing projects at this moment include the monitoring of birds on Great
Duck Island [], the zebras in Kenya [], the redwoods in California [], or the water
temperature of the Australian coral reef []. [].The number of these applications is contin-
uously increasing as the first deployed sensor network shows the benefits of easy remote
monitoring.
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Healthcare applications
—An increasing interest is being shown to the elder popula-
tion []. Sensor networks can help in several areas of the healthcare ield. he monitoring
can take place both at home and in hospitals. At home, patients can be under permanent
monitoring and the sensor networks will trigger alerts whenever there is a change in the
patient's state. Systems that can detect their movement behavior at home, detect any fall,
or remind them to take their prescriptions are being studied. Also inside the hospitals
sensornetworkscanbeusedtotrackthepositionofdoctorsandpatients(theirstatusor
even errors in the medication), expensive hardware, etc. [].
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Home applications
—he home is the perfect application domain for the pervasive com-
puting field. Imagine all the electronic appliances forming a network and cooperating
together to fulfill the needs of the inhabitants []. They must identify each user cor-
rectly, remember their preferences and their habits, and, at the same time, monitor the
entire house for unexpected events. he sensor networks have also an important role here,
being the “eyes and the ears” that will trigger the actuator systems.
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Other commercial applications
—his category includes all the other commercial applica-
tions envisioned or already built that do not fit in the previous categories. Basically, they
range from simple systems as environmental monitoring within an office to more com-
plex applications such as managing inventory control and vehicle tracking and detection.
Other examples include incorporating sensors into toys and thus detecting the position
of the children in “smart” kindergartens []; monitoring the material fatigue and the
tensions inside the walls of a building, etc.
The number of research projects dedicated to wireless sensor networks has increased dramatically
over the last years. A lot of effort has been invested in studying all possible aspects of wireless sensor
networks. Please refer to Table . for a few examples. Also, a number of companies were created,
initially start-ups from the universities performing research in the field. Some of the leading names
in the field, valid at the date of writing this document, are listed in Table ..
TABLE .
List of Sensor Networks-Related Research Projects
Project Name
Research Area
CoSense []
Collaborative sensemaking (target recognition, condition monitoring)
EYES []
Self-organizing, energy-efficient sensor networks
PicoRadio []
Develop low-cost, energy-efficient transceivers
SensoNet []
Protocols for sensor networks
Smart Dust []
Cubic millimeter sensor nodes
TinyDB []
Query-processing system
WINS []
Distributed network access to sensors, controls, and processors
Cobis []
Business rules and integration with higher-level systems
Esense []
Integrating context information
Sensei []
Architecture for global integration of sensor and actuator networks
