UCB CS294-1 Deeply Embedded Network Systems - Fall 2003

We provide an in-depth study of applying wireless sensor networks (WSNs) toreal-world habitat monitoring. A set of system design requirements were devel-oped that cover the hardware design of the nodes, the sensor network software,protective enclosures, and system architecture to meet the requirements of biol-ogists. In the summer of 2002, 43 nodes were deployed on a small island offthe coast of Maine streaming useful live data onto the web. Although scientistsanticipate some challenges arising in real-world deployments of WSNs, manyproblems can only be discovered through experience. We present a set of ex-periences from a four month long deployment on a remote island. We analyzethe environmental and node health data to evaluate system performance. Theclose integration of WSNs with their environment provides environmental dataat densities previous impossible. We show that the sensor data is also useful forpredicting system operation and network failures. Based on over one milliondata readings, we analyze the node and network design and develop networkreliability profiles and failure models.