Wireless Sensor Networks for Monitoring of Large Public Buildings

Recent advancements in micro-electromechanical-systems made it feasible to deploy low-cost, self-configuring wireless sensor networks for monitoring an area of interest with fine granularity. Due to its commercial potential, monitoring of large public buildings is a significant emerging application area for wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor networks can be deployed for monitoring the response of structures to strain and ambient vibration (e.g, wind, earthquakes), monitoring and controlling of indoor environment (e.g., lighting, heating, air quality), and helping in extreme event response (e.g., detecting congested exits, finding safe routes during an evacuation). Here we provide a brief summary of the state-of-the-art in wireless sensor networks, investigate the feasibility of monitoring large public buildings using wireless sensor networks, and list some of the open research problems in this domain.