ABSTRACT
A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a collection of sensor nodes that are distributed in a selected geographical area to monitor certain aspects of the environment. It incorporates technologies from three areas: sensing, communications, and computing. A sensor node performs the following functions:
Senses environmental physical parameters, for example, temperature, vibra-N tion, humidity Processing of raw data locally to extract characteristic features of interest N Temporary storage of the data N Uses the wireless link to transmit data to its neighbors N
The usage of WSN can be classified into three categories: monitoring space (e.g., environmental and habitat monitoring, precision agriculture, indoor climate control, intelligent alarms), monitoring objects (e.g., structural monitoring, ecophysiology, medical diagnostic, urban terrain mapping), and monitoring interaction between objects with each other and the encompassing space (e.g., wildlife habitats, disaster management, emergency response). A sensor node is also referred to as a mote or a probe.
