WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Unit-1

Dr Swathi Nambari
Associate Professor
Dept of ECE
ANITS(A)
 UNIT I

• Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks:

• Ambient Intelligence,
• Types of Applications,
• Challenges for WSNs,
• Differences between mobile adhoc networks and wireless sensor networks,
• Enabling Technologies for Wireless Sensor Networks.
• Single-Node Architecture: Hardware Components, Operating Systems and
• Execution Environments: Embedded operating systems, Programming
paradigms and application programming interfaces
UNIT II

• Network Architecture:
• Sensor Network Scenarios,
• Optimization goals and figures of merit,
• Design principles for WSNs - Distributed organization, In-network processing,
Adaptive fidelity and Accuracy.
• Physical Layer and Transceiver Design Considerations - Energy usage
profile, Choice of modulation scheme
UNIT III
• MAC Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks:
• Fundamentals of (wireless) MAC protocols:
• Requirements and design constraints for wireless MAC protocols,
• Important classes of MAC protocols,
• MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks,
• Low duty cycle protocols – STEM,
• Contention-based protocols: CSMA protocols,
• Schedule-based protocols: LEACH.
UNIT IV

• Naming and addressing:

• Fundamentals,
• Use of addresses and names in sensor networks,
• Address management tasks,
• Uniqueness of addresses,
• Address allocation and assignment,
• Addressing overhead,
• Address and name management in wireless sensor networks
UNIT V
• Localization and positioning:
• Properties of localization and positioning procedures,
• Possible approaches,
• Proximity, Trilateration and triangulation,
• Mathematical basics for the lateration problem,
• Single-hop localization: Active Badge, Active office, RADAR.
 Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, students will be able to

1. Adapt the basic concepts of wireless sensor networks, sensing, computing and
communication tasks
2.Explain the architectures, features, and performance for wireless sensor
network systems and platforms
3. Describe and explain radio standards and communication protocols adopted in
wireless sensor networks
4. Illustrate allocation of addresses and management of names in wireless sensor
networks
5. Able to apply appropriate algorithms to improve existing or to develop new
wireless sensor network applications
TEXT BOOKS:

1.Holger Karl & Andreas Willig, “Protocols And Architectures for Wireless
Sensor Networks”, John Wiley, 2005 [UNIT- I-V]
2.KazemSohraby, Daniel Minoli, &TaiebZnati, “Wireless Sensor Networks-
Technology, Protocols, and Applications”, John Wiley, 2007.
[UNIT- V]
REFERENCE BOOKS:

1.C. S. Raghavendra, Krishna M. Sivalingam, Wireless Sensor Networks,

Springer, 2004.
2. S Anandamurugan, Wireless Sensor Networks, Lakshmi Publications
 What is IoT
The Internet of Things is

the network of
physical objects or "things"

embedded with

electronics, software, sensors, and

network connectivity,
which enables these objects to collect
and exchange data.
 Cloud storage
• Cloud storage enables you to make data available anywhere you are,
anytime you need it.
• Instead of being tied to a location or specific device, people can access
data from anywhere in the world from any device—as long as they have
an internet connection.
What is cloud computing used for?

• Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing services such

as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics.
• Rather than keeping files on a proprietary hard drive or local storage
device, cloud-based storage makes it possible to save remotely.

• Organizations of every type, size, and industry are using the cloud
for a wide variety of use cases, such as data backup, disaster
recovery, email, virtual desktops, software development and testing,
big data analytics, and customer-facing web applications.
Big Data Analytics

• Big data analytics refers to a large volume of information

collected or processed collectively.
• It encompasses vast datasets derived from various sources, such
as user interactions, sensors, or transactions, typically measured
in terabytes or more.
 Data Analytics for IoT
• A great example of the deluge of data that can be generated by IoT is found in the
commercial aviation industry and the sensors that are deployed throughout an
aircraft.
• Modern jet engines are fitted with thousands of sensors that generate a whopping
10GB of data per second.
• For example, modern jet engines, equipped with around 5000 sensors, a twin
engine commercial aircraft with these engines operating on average 8 hours
a day will generate over 500 TB of data daily, and this is just the data from
the engines!
• Aircraft today have thousands of other sensors connected to the airframe and
other systems. In fact, a single wing of a modern jumbo jet is equipped with
10,000 sensors.
JET ENGINE
 Artificial Intelligence

• Artificial Intelligence is a method of making a computer, a computer-controlled

robot, or a software think intelligently like the human mind.
 Machine learning

• Machine learning is a
subfield of artificial
intelligence, which is
broadly defined as the
capability of a machine to
imitate intelligent human
behavior.
Deep Learning
• Deep learning is a method in artificial intelligence (AI) that teaches
computers to process data in a way that is inspired by the human brain.
• Deep learning models can recognize complex patterns in pictures, text,
sounds, and other data to produce accurate insights and predictions.
• Deep learning is a key technology behind driverless cars, enabling
them to recognize a stop sign, or to distinguish a pedestrian from a
lamppost.
IoT and WSN Difference
Sensor Network

• A group of sensors where each sensor monitors data in a

different location and sends that data to a central location for
storage, viewing, and analysis.

Sensor Network can be wired or wireless

• Wired Sensor Network uses Ethernet cables
• Wireless Sensor Network uses Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC
 Wireless sensor networks
• Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) refer to networks of spatially dispersed
and dedicated sensors that monitor and record the physical conditions of the
environment and forward the collected data to a central location.
History of Sensor Networks
• The origins of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be traced back to
the 1950s, when the United States military developed the Sound
Surveillance System (SOSUS) to track Soviet submarines.
• The SOSUS was a network of submerged hydrophones in the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans.
• The research on WSNs was further advanced by the Distributed Sensor
Networks (DSN) program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) in the 1980s.
• DSN were envisioned as a network of low-cost sensing nodes that could
communicate with each other and route information to the best node to
use it.
WSN
• Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an infrastructure-less wireless network
that is deployed in a large number of wireless sensors in an ad-hoc manner
that is used to monitor the system, physical or environmental conditions.

• Sensor nodes are used in WSN with the onboard processor that manages
and monitors the environment in a particular area.
• They are connected to the Base Station which acts as a processing unit in
the WSN System.
• Base Station in a WSN System is connected through the Internet to share
data.
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)
 Network
• Network is a group of
interconnected nodes or
computing devices that
exchange data and resources
with each other.

• Devices on a network may be

linked through cables,
telephone lines, radio waves,
satellites, or infrared light
beams.
Who introduced Internet ?
• BOB KAHN (1938–) AND VINT CERF (1943–)
American computer scientists who developed TCP/IP, the set of
protocols that governs how data moves through a network. This
helped the ARPANET evolve into the internet we use today.

Vinton Gray Cerf is an American Internet pioneer and is

recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title
with TCP/IP co-developer Bob Kahn.
• ARPANET was the first operational computer network that became the
foundation of the modern internet.
• The U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was
the first public packet-switched computer network.

• ARPANET's main use was for academic and research purposes.

• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research

and development agency of the United States Department of Defense
(DoD) responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by
the military.

• It was first used in 1969 and finally decommissioned in 1989.

 Who is the Owner of the Internet ?
• No one person, company,
organization or government runs the
Internet.
• It is a globally distributed network
comprising many voluntarily
interconnected autonomous
networks.
• It operates without a central
governing body with each constituent
network setting and enforcing its own
policies.
 Who first invented sensor?
• The first modern sensor invented by
mankind to convert measurement signals
into electrical signals is a temperature
sensor.
• At the beginning of the 17th century,
Galileo invented the gas thermometer,
and humans began to use temperature to
measure.
 Sensor
• A sensor is a device that detects the change in the environment.
• It produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical
phenomenon.

• Used in everyday applications

• The sensors are used in a wide range of industries, agriculture,

manufacturing, data centers, meteorology, and heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) etc
• A level sensor can determine the level of a physical substance such as water,
fuel, coolant, grain, fertilizer or waste.
Sensor types

• Light sensor
• Temperature Sensor
• Pressure sensor
• Heat sensor
• Humidity sensor
• IR sensor
• Position sensor
• Vibration sensor
• Force Sensor etc
Sensor types
 Sensors
• There are a number of ways to group and cluster sensors into
different categories, including the following:

■ Active or passive:
Sensors can be categorized based on whether they produce an energy output and
typically require an external power supply (active) or whether they simply receive
energy and typically require no external power supply (passive).

■ Invasive or non-invasive:
Sensors can be categorized based on whether a sensor is part of the environment it
is measuring (invasive) or external to it (non-invasive).
 Sensors
■Contact or no-contact:
Sensors can be categorized based on whether they require physical contact with
what they are measuring (contact) or not (no-contact).

■Absolute or relative:
Sensors can be categorized based on whether they measure on an absolute scale
(absolute) or based on a difference with a fixed or variable reference value
(relative).
Active and Passive sensing
Sensor Node
• Sensor is used only for sensing

• Sensor node has other things also like processing unit,

transceiver unit and power unit.

• Sensor node is a small device that is used to collect and transmit

data from the environment or surrounding area.
WSN can be used for processing, analysis, storage, and mining of the data.

Applications of WSN:
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Surveillance and Monitoring for security, threat detection
• Environmental temperature, humidity, and air pressure
• Noise Level of the surrounding
• Medical applications like patient monitoring
• Agriculture
• Landslide Detection
Body Sensor Network (BSN)
Body Sensor Networks (BSN)
• Fortunately, advances have been made towards smart living and health monitoring systems
that support tele-medicine.

• In particular, Body Sensor Networks (BSN) and wireless communications represent

powerful techniques for significantly advance healthcare in developing countries.
• In BSN, wearable sensor nodes are deployed over a human body.

• The sensors can be used externally on the body or inside the human body to measure
certain health parameters.

• For example, measuring the heart rate, body temperature or recording a prolonged
electrocardiogram (ECG).

• These wearable or implantable sensors communicate with the base station (BS) to collect
the data and then transmit it to the medical server or personal device (smart phones,
laptop) or the doctor for further assessment/treatment.
Body Sensor Networks (BSN)
• BSN is mostly used for long time health monitoring.

• One of the advantages of using this technology is that a patient need not to
stay longer in hospitals and can be monitored remotely.
•
• BSN can be either wired or wireless in nature.

• In Wired BSN, the sensors scattered on the body are connected using
wires to BS.

• However, in wireless BSN (WBSN) the sensors communicate wirelessly

to BS
LDR as Light Sensor
Streetlights in a city
Streetlights in a city
• Streetlights in a city can be made to function like living entities through sensing and computing using
tiny embedded devices that communicate and interact with a central control-and-command station
through the Internet.

• Assume that each light in a group of 32 streetlights comprises a sensing, computing and
communication circuit.

• Each group connects to a group-controller (or coordinator) through Bluetooth or ZigBee.

• Each controller further connects to the central command-and-control station through the Internet.

• The station receives information about each streetlight in each group in the city at periodic intervals.
• The information received is related to the functioning of the 32 lights, the faulty lights, about the
presence or absence of traffic in group vicinity, and about the ambient conditions, whether cloudy,
dark or normal daylight.
• The station remotely programs the group controllers, which automatically take an appropriate action
as per the conditions of traffic and light levels.
• It also directs remedial actions in case a fault develops in a light at a specific location.
• Thus, each group in the city is controlled by the ‘Internet of streetlights’.
 Disaster relief applications
A typical scenario is wildfire detection:
• Sensor nodes are equipped with thermometers and can determine their own location (relative
to each other or in absolute coordinates).
• These sensors are deployed over a wildfire, for example, a forest, from an airplane.
• They collectively produce a “temperature map” of the area or determine the perimeter of
areas with high temperature that can be accessed from the outside, for example, by firefighters
equipped with Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).

• Similar scenarios are possible for the control of accidents in chemical factories, for
example.
• Some of these disaster relief applications have commonalities with military applications,
where sensors should detect, for example, enemy troops rather than wildfires.
• In such an application, sensors should be cheap enough to be considered disposable since a
large number is necessary; lifetime requirements are not particularly high.
Wildfire detection
Wildfire detection
 Environment control and biodiversity mapping

• WSNs can be used to control the environment, for example, with respect to chemical pollutants
– a possible application is garbage dump sites.

Another example is the surveillance of the marine ground floor; an understanding of its
erosion processes is important for the construction of offshore wind farms.

Closely related to environmental control is the use of WSNs to gain an understanding of the
number of plant and animal species that live in a given habitat (biodiversity mapping).

• The main advantages of WSNs here are the long-term, unattended, wirefree operation of
sensors close to the objects that have to be observed; since sensors can be made small enough
to be unobtrusive, they only negligibly disturb the observed animals and plants.
• Often, a large number of sensors is required with rather high requirements regarding lifetime.
 Biodiversity Mapping
• Biodiversity is all the different kinds
of life in one area - the variety of
animals, plants, fungi, and even
microorganisms like bacteria
that make up natural world.
• Each of these species and
organisms work together in
ecosystems, like an intricate web,
to maintain balance and support
life.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity
Intelligent buildings
• Buildings waste vast amounts of energy by inefficient Humidity, Ventilation,
Air Conditioning (HVAC) usage.
• A better, real-time, high-resolution monitoring of temperature, airflow,
humidity, and other physical parameters in a building by means of a WSN
can considerably increase the comfort level of inhabitants and reduce the
energy consumption such sensor nodes can be used to monitor mechanical
stress levels of buildings in seismically active zones.
• By measuring mechanical parameters like the bending load of girders, it is
possible to quickly ascertain via a WSN whether it is still safe to enter a given
building after an earthquake or whether the building is on the brink of
collapse – a considerable advantage for rescue personnel. Similar systems
can be applied to bridges.
Intelligent buildings

• Other types of sensors might be geared toward detecting people enclosed in

a collapsed building and communicating such information to a rescue team.
• The main advantage here is the collaborative mapping of physical
parameters.
• Depending on the particular application, sensors can be retrofitted into
existing buildings (for HVAC type applications) or have to be incorporated
into the building already under construction.
• If power supply is not available, lifetime requirements can be very high – up
to several dozens of years – but the number of required nodes, and hence
the cost, is relatively modest, given the costs of an entire building
Facility management
• In the management of facilities larger than a single building, WSNs also have
a wide range of possible applications.
• Simple examples include keyless entry applications where people wear
badges that allow a WSN to check which person is allowed to enter which
areas of a larger company site.
• This example can be extended to the detection of intruders, for example of
vehicles that pass a street outside of normal business hours.
• A wide area WSN could track such a vehicle’s position and alert security
personnel – this application shares many commonalities with corresponding
military applications.
• Along another line, a WSN could be used in a chemical plant to scan for
leaking chemicals.
Facility management
Machine surveillance and preventive maintenance
 Machine surveillance and preventive maintenance

• One idea is to fix sensor nodes to difficult to-reach areas of machinery where
they can detect vibration patterns that indicate the need for maintenance.
• Examples for such machinery could be robotics or the axles of trains.
• Other applications in manufacturing are easily conceivable.
• The main advantage of WSNs here is the cablefree operation, avoiding a
maintenance problem in itself and allowing a cheap, often retrofitted installation
of such sensors.
• Wired power supply may or may not be available depending on the scenario; if it
is not available, sensors should last a long time on a finite supply of energy
since exchanging batteries is usually impractical and costly.
• On the other hand, the size of nodes is often not a crucial issue, nor is the price
very heavily constrained.
Advantages of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

Low cost: WSNs consist of small, low-cost sensors that are easy to
deploy, making them a cost-effective solution for many applications.

Wireless communication: WSNs eliminate the need for wired

connections, which can be costly and difficult to install. Wireless
communication also enables flexible deployment and reconfiguration of the
network.
Advantages of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

Energy efficiency: WSNs use low-power devices and protocols to conserve energy,
enabling long-term operation without the need for frequent battery replacements.

Scalability: WSNs can be scaled up or down easily by adding or removing sensors,

making them suitable for a range of applications and environments.

Real-time monitoring: WSNs enable real-time monitoring of physical phenomena in

the environment, providing timely information for decision making and control.
Disadvantages of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

Limited range: The range of wireless communication in WSNs is limited, which can
be a challenge for large-scale deployments or in environments with obstacles that
obstruct radio signals.

Limited processing power: WSNs use low-power devices, which may have limited
processing power and memory, making it difficult to perform complex computations or
support advanced applications.

Data security: WSNs are vulnerable to security threats, such as eavesdropping,

tampering, and denial of service attacks, which can compromise the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of data.
Disadvantages of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

Interference: Wireless communication in WSNs can be susceptible to

interference from other wireless devices or radio signals, which can degrade the
quality of data transmission.

Deployment challenges: Deploying WSNs can be challenging due to the need

for proper sensor placement, power management, and network configuration,
which can require significant time and resources.

While WSNs offer many benefits, they also have limitations and challenges that
must be considered when deploying and using them in real-world applications.
 Artificial Intelligence

• Artificial Intelligence is a method of making a computer, a computer-controlled

robot, or a software think intelligently like the human mind.
 What is Ambient Intelligence?

• Ambient Intelligence (AML) is an emerging

discipline within technology and AI that aims to
create environments that are sensitive and
responsive to human presence.
• These environments understand preferences,
anticipate needs, and act accordingly.
• The concept of AML originated in the early
2000s, pioneered by the European
Commission’s Future & Emerging
Technologies (FET).
Ambient Intelligence (AML)

• Transformation occurs from washing machine to wrist band,

computation will surround us in our daily lives.

Example:
• Ubiquitous Computing
• Person to person
• Person to machine
• Machine to machine
 THE VISION OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE

• Ranging from old fashioned mainframes to modern laptop

or palmtops.
• Computation is integrated with control; it is embedded into a
physical system
• Embedded system meet human interaction-based system
 Realization of vision
• To realize this vision, a crucial aspect is needed in addition to computation and control:
• For some application scenarios, such networks of sensors and actuators are easily built
using existing, wired networking technologies.
• For many other application types, however, the need to wire together all these entities
constitutes a considerable obstacle to success:
• Wiring is expensive, in particular, given the large number of devices that is
imaginable in our environment; wires constitute a maintenance problem; wires
prevent entites from being mobile; and wires can prevent sensors or actuators
from being close to the phenomenon that they are supposed to control.
• Hence, wireless communicaton between such devices is, in many application scenarios,
an inevitable requirement
Elements of Ambient Intelligence
• Ubiquity
• Awareness
• Intelligence
• Responsiveness

Enabling Technologies of Ambient Intelligence

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Sensor Technology
• Networking & Cloud Technologies
Elements of Ambient Intelligence

• Ubiquity: In AML systems, computing devices and technologies are

unobtrusively embedded in the environment, making them virtually
invisible yet omnipresent — achieving 'ubiquity.‘

• Awareness: Awareness implies these systems' ability to perceive and

understand the context, including individuals’ presence, movements,
emotions, and even intentions.
 Elements of Ambient Intelligence

•Intelligence: Equipped with artificial intelligence, these environments can

make informed decisions, learn from experiences and even predict and
proactively respond to emerging situations.

•Responsiveness: AML environments are characterized by their capability to

adapt and respond to individuals' needs and preferences, delivering a
unique, personalized experience.
 Challenges for Ambient Intelligence
Since AML systems continuously monitor environments and user behavior, they might trigger
significant privacy concerns due to sensitive data collection and usage.

Dependability and Failure Resilience

Being embedded in our everyday lives, system reliability is crucial. AML systems should be
dependable, have minimal failures, and if they occur, exhibit resilience and swift recovery.

Interoperability
With AML, we're dealing with many devices from different manufacturers. Universal
standards and protocols for seamless interoperability pose a challenge.

User Acceptance
The success of AML greatly depends on end-user acceptance. Overcoming fear of technology,
ensuring intuitive interactions, and guaranteeing benefits will foster wider adoption.
Challenges of Wireless Sensor Networks
 Challenges of Wireless Sensor Networks

Scalability:
• WSN might include a large number of nodes, the employed
architectures and protocols must be able to scale to these
numbers.
Wide range of densities:
• Number of nodes per unit area - the density of the network can
vary considerably.
• Different applications will have very different node densities
Challenges of Wireless Sensor Networks

Lifetime:
• WSN must operate for a given mission time or as long as possible.
• Alternative, solar cell might be supplement to energy supplies.
• Lifetime has direct trade-Offs against QoS: investing more energy can
increase quality but decrease life time.
• A simple option is to use the time until the first node fails (or runs out of
energy) as the network life time.
 Challenges of Wireless Sensor Networks
Quality of service
• Traditional quality of service requirements – Multimedia type applications like
bounded delay or minimum bandwidth are irrelevant when applications are tolerant to
latency or bandwidth of transmitted data is very small.
• Adapted quality concepts like reliable detection of events or say temperature map is
important.
Fault tolerance
• Nodes run out of energy or might be damaged and wireless communication between
two nodes can be permanently interrupted
• Redundant deployment is necessary.
• Using more nodes than would be strictly necessary if all nodes functioned correctly.
 Challenges of Wireless Sensor Networks
Programmability:
• Nodes should posses the capability to react flexibly on changes in their tasks.
• Re-programming of nodes in the field might be necessary, improve flexibility.
• These nodes should be programmable.
• Their programming must be changeable during operation when new tasks become
Important.

Maintainability:
• WSN has to adapt to changes, self-monitoring, adapt operation
• Incorporate possible additional resources, e.g., newly deployed nodes
Sensor Node Architecture
• Building a wireless sensor network first of all requires the constituting
nodes to be developed and available.

• These nodes have to meet the requirements that come from the specific
requirements of a given application:

• They might have to be small, cheap, or energy efficient, they have to be

equipped with the right sensors, the necessary computation and memory
resources, and they need adequate communication facilities.
Sensor Node Architecture

A sensor node is comprised of Arduino NANO microcontroller(µC) board,

number of sensors, and a nRF24L01+ radio transceiver module.
Sensor Node Architecture
• Controller: A controller to process all the relevant data, capable of
executing arbitrary code.

• Memory: Some memory to store programs and intermediate data;

usually, different types of memory are used for programs and data.

• Sensors and actuators: The actual interface to the physical world:

devices that can observe or control physical parameters of the
environment.
SENSORS

Passive, omnidirectional sensors - Thermometer, light sensors, vibration,

microphones, humidity, mechanical stress or tension in materials

Passive, narrow-beam sensors - Camera, which can “take measurements” in a given

direction, but has to be rotated if need be.

Active sensors - a sonar or radar sensor or some types of seismic sensors.

• Each sensor node has a certain area of coverage for which it can reliably and
accurately report the particular quantity that it is observing.
Satellite Communication examples:
• Broadcasting (television and Radio)
• Internet access
• Military
• Telephone
• Earth Observation (Remote sensing)
(Agriculture, Forestry, atmosphere, oceans, weather forecasting, disaster etc )
• Positioning and Navigation
• DTH Services etc
Examples of GNSS systems

Global
• GPS: The Global Positioning System, developed by the United States
• GLONASS: The GLObal NAvigation Satellite System, developed by the Russian
Federation
• Galileo: The European Satellite Navigation System, developed by the European
Union

Regional
• BeiDou: The satellite navigation system developed by China
• IRNSS: The Regional Navigation Satellite System developed by India
• QZSS: The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System developed by Japan
 Passive Sensor
A passive sensor is a device that detects energy from an external source, like light or sound.

Here are some examples of passive sensors:

• Cameras: Cameras are passive sensors that capture visible light from the sun.
• Light sensors: These sensors detect if light is shining on them.
• Infrared sensors: These sensors detect the temperature of an object.
• Eyes: Eyes are passive sensors that collect energy from the sun or other external sources.
• Acoustic sensors: Microphones or microphone arrays are acoustic sensors that detect sound and calculate
its direction.
• Alcohol sensors: These sensors detect alcohol in a person's breath.
• Gas sensors: These sensors detect hazardous gases in the air.
• Proximity sensors: These sensors detect the distance between a phone and an obstacle, like a face.
• Accelerometers: These sensors detect changes in gravitational acceleration, which can be used to
measure tilt, vibration, and acceleration.
ACTUATORS
• Actuators are devices that convert energy into mechanical motion.
• They can be operated manually, electrically, or using fluids like air or
hydraulics.
• This controls a motor, a light bulb, or some other physical object is not
really of concern to the way communication protocols are designed.

• Actuators receive a source of energy and use it to move something.

To put it another way, the actuator converts a source of energy into a
physical-mechanical motion.
Examples of Actuators

• Electric motors: Use some form of electric energy to operate. Used in machine
tools, robots, and conveyor systems
• Linear actuators: Used to move something in a straight line
• Rotary actuators: Used to make something move in a circular motion
• Stepper motors: Used in digital controlling methods
• Servomotors: Used in industrial process control
• Grippers: Used in automated production systems
• Hydraulic actuators: use a variety of liquids as a source of energy.
• Pneumatic actuators: are operated by compressed air.
• Hydraulic cylinders and Pneumatic actuators: Used in industrial process control
• Screw jacks: Used in industrial process control
• Piezoelectric actuators: Used in industrial process control
Examples of Actuators in everyday life
• Car seats: Actuators move car seats forward and backward
• Grocery store doors: Actuators make doors open automatically
• Smart TV stands: Actuators adjust the height and angle of a TV
• Car door locks: Actuators lock and unlock cars
• Car windows: Actuators close and open car windows
MEMORY
There is a need for Random Access Memory (RAM) to store intermediate sensor
readings, packets from other nodes, and so on. While RAM is fast, its main
disadvantage is that it loses its content if power supply is interrupted.
• ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM can be used to store the data.
• Correctly dimensioning memory sizes, especially RAM, can be crucial with respect
to manufacturing costs and power consumption.

• Power supply: Some form of recharging by obtaining energy from the

environment is available as well (e.g. solar cells).
CONTROLLER
• The controller is the core of a wireless sensor node.
• It collects data from the sensors, processes this data, decides when and
where to send it, receives data from other sensor nodes, and decides on
the actuator’s behavior.
• It is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the node.
• It is representing trade-offs between flexibility, performance, energy
efficiency, and costs.
• COMMUNICATION DEVICE
– The communication device is used to exchange data between
individual nodes.
– Radio Frequency (RF)-based communication provides relatively long
range and high data rates, acceptable error rates at reasonable energy
expenditure, and does not require line of sight between sender and
receiver.
• Transceivers:
– .The essential task is to convert a bit stream coming from a
microcontroller (or a sequence of bytes or frames) and convert them
to and from radio waves.
Ad hoc networks
• Ad hoc networks are mainly for data communication and have no
sensing ability. These are self-configuring networks of wireless links
connected to mobile nodes.
• The aforementioned mobile nodes convey information directly to each
other without any access points; that’s why they are infrastructure-less.
• They create an arbitrary topology, where the routers move randomly and
arrange themselves as required.
• If we take the same example of the human Central Nervous System, the
Ad hoc networks work like nerve endings to communicate with the brain
and body.
• A MANET consists
of a number of
mobile devices that
come together to
form a network as
needed, without any
support from any
existing internet
infrastructure or any
other kind of fixed
stations.
Ad hoc networks
• However, ad hoc networks were developed by the defense forces in the
early seventies to comply with military frameworks.
• These networks have now also proven useful in the commercial and
industrial fields.
Some common applications of Ad hoc Networks are:
• Data Mining
• Military Battlefield
• Commercial Sector
• Personal Area Network or Bluetooth
• Emergency and temporary communication
In the case of wireless sensor networks vs. Ad hoc networks, the
similarities are:
• Both are infrastructure-less wireless networks.
• Routing techniques are more or less the same.
• In both above-mentioned networks, the topology can change over a
period of time.
• Nodes can be operated on a battery
• Both use unlicensed spectrum
Embedded Operating System
• An embedded operating system is a specialized operating system (OS)
designed to perform a specific task for a device that is not a computer.
• The main job of an embedded OS is to run the code that allows the
device to do its job.
• TinyOS is an open source, flexible, component based, and application-
specific operating system designed for sensor networks.
• TinyOS can support concurrent programs with very low memory
requirements.
Programming Paradigms for WSN

Three main paradigms for WSN programming:

• Event-driven programming
• State-based programming and
• Mobile agent- based programming.