Wireless Sensor Technologies and Applications

Recent years have witnessed tremendous advances in the design and applications of wirelessly networked and embedded sensors. Wireless sensor nodes are typically low-cost, low-power, small devices equipped with limited sensing, data processing and wireless communication capabilities, as well as power supplies. They leverage the concept of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), in which a large (possibly huge) number of collaborative sensor nodes could be deployed. As an outcome of the convergence of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, wireless communications, and digital electronics, WSNs represent a significant improvement over traditional sensors. In fact, the rapid evolution of WSN technology has accelerated the development and deployment of various novel types of wireless sensors, e.g., multimedia sensors. Fulfilling Moore’s law, wireless sensors are becoming smaller and cheaper, and at the same time more powerful and ubiquitous.