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scalability ratio in connection with node deployment and hazardous operating envi-
ronments distinguish WSN from legacy wireless networks such as cellular or mobile
ad-hoc networks (MANET).
1.1.1 WSN Applications
The past two decades have seen an enormous amount of increase in WSN applications
(Akyildiz et al. 2002). Applications can be broadly categorized into military and civilian
types. Military applications may include remote sensing, battlefield monitoring, object
protection, and intelligent guiding of un-manned moving objects. Civilian applications
may include environmental monitoring such as habitat monitoring, disaster monitor-
ing, and air and water pollution control. In addition, WSN may also be used in health
care, acoustic and video surveillance, industrial process control, and home intelligence.
1.1.1.1 Civilian Applications
Sensors can be used to detect physical parameters such as temperature, pressure,
humidity, sound, light, etc. They can also be used to detect air and water quality, and
composition of earth. Furthermore, attributes of an object such as height, weight, posi-
tion, and speed can be used as sensing parameters.
WSN significantly reduce deployment costs because they can be applied in hostile
environments such as battlefields, ocean depths, and outer space. Among the earliest
applications of sensor networks are environmental monitoring, which further includes
habitat monitoring, air and water quality monitoring, hazard monitoring, and disas-
ter monitoring.
Habitat monitoring: The living conditions of wild animals and plants can be
monitored using remote sensors. Moreover, rare species of wild animals/plants
can be under constant observation using WSN (Naumowicz et al. 2010).
Air and water quality management: Sensors can be placed on the tip of a volcano
to detect any eruption, or placed in the middle of the ocean on its floor to detect
the possibility of tsunami, or they can be used for ocean pollution prevention
(Werner-Allen et al. 2005; Khan and Jenkins 2008).
Hazard monitoring: Sensors can be used to detect any biological or chemical
hazard—for example, detecting a chemical or biological weapon. In addition,
they can used to detect any leakage of toxic chemical waste or gases in a chemical
process plant (Chen et al. 2010).
Disaster monitoring: Natural disasters such as forest fires and flash floods can be
easily detected by deploying WSN in such volatile areas. Seismic sensors can be
planted to detect the direction and magnitude of an earthquake. They can also
be deployed around nuclear plants, oil and gas pipelines, and strategic bridges.
Health care: WSN have widespread applications in health care, in that they can
be used to monitor patients with disabilities and thereby reduce the need for
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