Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in Space Applications

The application of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in time-sensitive applications, such as remote healthcare, fire tracking, integrated system health monitoring (ISHM) and industrial automation, demands support for emergency services with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) bounds. In particular, the continuous monitoring of physiological condition of crew members and spaceflight equipments during long space missions is of paramount importance to NASA as it mitigates mission performance risks. Continual performance tracking and local response advisory capabilities, within space environments, are crucial to ensure overall mission success. This paper will present challenges and opportunities of wireless sensor network in space applications, and the investigation of Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities to meet the stringent requirements of space applications. The paper will also present current evaluation of a new QoS wireless medium access technique as well as a prototype implementation of WSN for remote performance monitoring.