INTRODUCTION TO WIRELESS

SENSOR NETWORKS
Marco Zennaro, ICTP Trieste-Italy
Why WSN in this School?
  Researcher’s point of view: it’s a new technology,
with a lot of research still to be done
  Government’s point of view: many applications that

can impact society

  Business point of view: fast growing market, many

opportunities in emerging economies

  Networking point of view: sensors are the new

members of the Internet

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless sensor networks

  A Wireless Sensor Network is a self-configuring

network of small sensor nodes communicating
among themselves using radio signals, and
deployed in quantity to sense, monitor and
understand the physical world.

  Wireless Sensor nodes are called motes.

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless sensor networks

  WSN provide a bridge between the real physical

and virtual worlds.
  Allow the ability to observe the previously

unobservable at a fine resolution over large spatio-

temporal scales.
  Have a wide range of potential applications to
industry, science, transportation, civil infrastructure,
and security.

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

 Wireless sensor networks
log (people per computer)

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 [Culler:2004]

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless sensor networks

Next Century
Challenges: Mobile
Networking for
“Smart Dust”

J. M. Kahn,
R. H. Katz,
K. S. J. Pister

(MobiCom 1999)

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Mote Anatomy

  Processor in various modes (sleep, idle, active)

  Power source (AA or Coin batteries, Solar Panels)

  Memory used for the program code and for in-

memory buffering
  Radio used for transmitting the acquired data to

some storage site

  Sensors for temperature, humidity, light, etc

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Mote Anatomy

Memory

Communication Sensor(s)/
Controller
device actuator(s)

Power supply

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Mote Anatomy

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Mote Anatomy

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Mote Anatomy

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Mote Anatomy

  These motes are highly constrained in terms of

  Physical
size
  CPU power
  Memory (few tens of kilobytes)
  Bandwidth (Maximum of 250 KB/s, lower rates the norm)
  Power consumption is critical
  Ifbattery powered then energy efficiency is paramount
  Batteries might have to last for years
  May operate in harsh environments
  Challenging physical environment (heat, dust, moisture,
interference)
Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - October 2011
A World of Sensors
Predictive
Maintenance
High-Confidence
Energy Saving Transport and
Smart Grid Asset Tracking

Improve
Productivity
Intelligent
Buildings
Enable New
Knowledge
Enhanced Safety &
Security
Improve Food
and H2O
Healthcare

Smart Home
 WSN application examples

  Intelligent buildings (or bridges)

  Reduce energy wastage by proper
humidity, ventilation, air conditioning
(HVAC) control
  Needs measurements about room
occupancy, temperature, air flow, …
  Monitor mechanical stress after
earthquakes

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - October 2011

 WSN application examples

  Disaster relief operations

  Drop sensor nodes from an aircraft over a
wildfire
  Each node measures temperature

  Derive a “temperature map”

  Biodiversity mapping
  Use sensor nodes to observe wildlife

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication

  The two main wireless standards used by WNS are

802.15.4 and Zigbee

  They are low-power protocols

  Performance is an issue

  Max distance is around 100 m (at 2.4Ghz)

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Low Power Lossy Network (LLN)
  LLNs comprise a large number of highly
constrained devices interconnected by
predominantly wireless links of unpredictable
quality
  In most cases LLNs optimised for saving energy

  Traffic patterns can be MP2P, P2P and P2MP

flows

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

IEEE Wireless Standards
  802.11 – Wireless Local Area Networks (WiFi)
  802.11a, 802.11b, 80211g, 802.11n
  802.15 – Wireless Personal Access Networks (WPAN)
  Task Group 1 – Bluetooth (802.15.1)
  Task Group 2 – Co-existence (802.15.2)
  Task Group 3 – High Rate WPAN (802.15.3)
  Task Group 4 – Low Rate WPAN (802.15.4 or 802.15 TG4)
  Task Group 5 – Mesh Networking (802.15.5)
  802.16 – Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WiMax)
  802.20 – Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (Mobile-Fi) - Defunct
  802.22 – Wireless Regional Access Network (WRAN)
  Utilise free space in the allocated TV spectrum

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication: 802.15.4

  This standard defines a communication layer at

level 2 in the OSI (Open System Interconnection)
model. Its main purpose is to let the communication
between two devices. It was created by the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), entity
which main task is to set standards so that
technological developments can count with a
common platform of rules to be set over.

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication: Zigbee

  This standard defines a communication layer at

level 3 and uppers in the OSI model. Its main
purpose is to create a network topology (hierarchy)
to let a number of devices communicate among
them and to set extra communication features such
as authentication, encryption, association and in the
upper layer application services. It was created by
a set of companies which form the ZigBee Alliance.

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication: 802.15.4

  Channels:
  868.0 - 868.6MHz -> 1 channel (Europe)
  902.0-928.0MHz -> 10 channels (EEUU)
  2.40-2.48GHz -> 16 channels (Worldwide)

  Bit Rates:
  868.0 - 868.6MHz -> 20/100/250 Kb/s
  902.0-928.0MHz -> 40/250 Kb/s
  2.40-2.48GHz -> 250 Kb/s

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication: 802.15.4

  Why is it good against interference:

  Carrier Sense Multiple Access-Collision Avoidance
(CSMA-CA): each node listen the medium prior to
transmit. If the energy found is higher than a specific
level, the transceiver waits for a random time (in an
interval) and tries again.
  Guarantee Time Slots (GTS). This systems uses a
centralized node (PAN coordinator) which gives slots of
time to each node so that any knows when they have to
transmit. There are 16 possible slots of time.

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication: 802.15.4

  Why is it low power:

  It is ready to work with low-duty cycles. It means that
the transceiver can be sleeping most of the time (up to
99% on average) while the receiving and sending tasks
can be set to take just a small part of the devices'
energy.
  This percentage depends on the kind of communication
model used.

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Wireless communication: Zigbee

  ZigBee offers basically four kinds of different services:

  Encryption services (application and network keys implement
extra 128b AES encryption)
  Association and authentication (only valid nodes can join to the
network).
  Routing protocol: AODV, a reactive ad hoc protocol has been
implemented to perform the data routing and forwarding process
to any node in the network.
  Application Services: An abstract concept called "cluster" is
introduced. Each node belongs to a predefined cluster and can
take a predefined number of actions. Example: the "house light
system cluster" can perform two actions: "turn the lights on", and
"turn the lights off".

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

 The Design Space of WSN

  The design space of WSN is quite different from the one of

wireless networks

RF Networking Security

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

The Design Space of WSN

RF Security Networking

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Roles of participants in WSN
  Sources of data: Measure data, report them “somewhere”
  Typically equip with different kinds of actual sensors

  Sinks of data: Interested in receiving data from WSN

  May be part of the WSN or external entity, PDA, gateway, …

  Actuators: Control some device based on data, usually also

a sink

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Structuring WSN application types

  Interaction patterns between sources and sinks classify

application types
  Event detection: Nodes locally detect events (maybe
jointly with nearby neighbors), report these events
to interested sinks
  Periodic measurement
  Function approximation: Use sensor network to
approximate a function of space and/or time (e.g.,
temperature map)
  Tracking: Report (or at least, know) position of an
observed intruder (“pink elephant”)
Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012
The Design Space of WSN

RF Security Networking

Interaction

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Deployment options for WSN
  How are sensor nodes deployed in their environment?
  Dropped from aircraft: Random deployment
  Usually uniform random distribution for nodes over finite area is
assumed
  Is that a likely proposition?
  Well planned, fixed: Regular deployment
  E.g., in preventive maintenance or similar
  Not necessarily geometric structure, but that is often a convenient
assumption
  Mobile sensor nodes
  Can move to compensate for deployment shortcomings
  Can be passively moved around by some external force (wind, water)
  Can actively seek out “interesting” areas

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

The Design Space of WSN

RF Security Networking

Deployment Interaction

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Maintenance options

  Feasible and/or practical to maintain sensor nodes?

  E.g.,to replace batteries?
  Or: unattended operation?
  Impossible but not relevant? Mission lifetime might be very
small

  Energy supply?
  Limitedfrom point of deployment?
  Some form of recharging, energy scavenging from
environment?
  E.g., solar cells

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

The Design Space of WSN

RF Security Networking

Battery Life Interaction

Deployment

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Characteristic requirements for WSNs

  Type of service of WSN

  Not simply moving bits like another network
  Rather: provide answers (not just numbers)

  Quality of service
  Traditional QoS metrics do not apply
  Still, service of WSN must be “good”: Right
answers at the right time

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Characteristic requirements for WSNs

  Fault tolerance
  Berobust against node failure (running out of energy,
physical destruction, …)

  Lifetime
  The network should fulfill its task as long as possible –
definition depends on application
  Lifetime of individual nodes relatively unimportant
  But often treated equivalently

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

The Design Space of WSN

RF Security Networking

Data integrity

Battery Life Interaction

Deployment

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Characteristic requirements for WSNs
  Scalability
  Support large number of nodes
  Wide range of densities
  Vast or small number of nodes per unit area, very application-
dependent
  Programmability
  Re-programming of nodes in the field might be necessary,
improve flexibility
  Maintainability
  WSN has to adapt to changes, self-monitoring, adapt operation
  Incorporate possible additional resources, e.g., newly deployed
nodes

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

The Design Space of WSN

Programmability

RF Security Networking

Data integrity

Battery Life Interaction

Deployment

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Sensor Families

Open

Proprietary

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Open Wireless Sensors
  Open Wireless Sensors are devices that are open both in
software as in hardware
  They have many advantages on proprietary ones:
  Cost

  Personalization

  Independence

  Ref: M. Zennaro, A. Bagula, H. Ntareme, G. Inggs and S. Scott,

On the relevance of open wireless sensors for NGN, in
proceedings of Innovations for Digital Inclusions 2009 (ITU-T
Kaleidoscope), 2009.
Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - March 2010
Sensor Families

IPv6

Non-IP

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

IPv4 or IPv6
  Smart Objects will add tens of billions of
additional devices
  There is no scope for IPv4 to support Smart

Object Networks
  IPv6 is the only viable way forward

  Solution to address exhaustion

  Stateless Auto-configuration thanks to Neighbour
Discovery Protocol
  Each embedded node can be individually addressed/
accessed

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - October 2011

Internet of Things
 Smart Objects Based on what we
know is true today
(Conservative)

World
Population 6.3 Billion 6.8 Billion 7.2 Billion 7.6 Billion
Connected
Devices 500 Million 12.5 Billion 25 Billion 50 Billion

Connected
Devices More connected
devices than people
Per Person 0.08 1.84 3.47 6.58
2008
2003 2010 2015 2020
Conclusion
  WSN are here to stay!

  It’s an interesting, complex, new technology

  Lots of research still to be done

  Applications are what is needed!

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Credits
  Credits for the slides go to:
  Bhaskar Raman
  Muneeb Ali

  Holger Karl
  David Gascon

  Antoine Bagula

  Claro Noda

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012

Thanks

Marco Zennaro
[email protected]

www.wsnblog.com

Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks - February 2012