Protocols and Applications for

Wireless Sensor Networks

(01204525)

Ad hoc and Sensor Networks

Chaiporn Jaikaeo
chaiporn.j@ku.ac.th
Department of Computer Engineering
Kasetsart University
Materials taken from lecture slides by Karl and Willig
Typical Wireless Networks
Base stations connected to wired
backbone
Mobile nodes communicate
wirelessly to base stations
Ad hoc Networks
Networks without pre-configured
infrastructure
require no hubs, access points, base stations
are instantly deployable
can be wired or wireless

wired wireless multi-hop wireless

Initially targeted for military and

emergency applications
802.11 Ad hoc Mode
IEEE 802.11 already provides
support for ad hoc mode
Computers can be connected
without an access point
Only work with single hop
Possible Applications for Ad
hoc Networks

Factory Floor Disaster recovery Car-to-car communication

Automation
Characteristics of Ad hoc
Networks
Heterogeneity sensors, PDAs, laptops

Limited resources CPU, bandwidth,

power
Dynamic topology due to mobility and/or
failure
Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs)
B
C

A
Sensor Networks
Participants in the previous examples
were devices close to a human user,
interacting with humans
Alternative concept:
Instead of focusing interaction on humans,
focus on interacting with environment
Network is embedded in environment
Nodes in the network are equipped with
sensing and actuation to measure/influence
environment
Nodes process information and communicate
Traditional Sensors

sensor field Network

Network

Remote
monitoring
Data loggers
Local
monitoring
Wireless Sensors
Sensors communicate with data
logger via radio links

Network
Network
sensor field

Remote
radio link monitoring
Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless sensors + wireless network
Sensor nodes (motes) deployed and forming an
ad hoc network
Requires no hubs, access points
Instantly deployable

Sensor
node/mote

Sensor network
Gateway

Internet
Targeted applications
Emergency responses Remote
Remote data acquisition monitoring
Demonstration
Sensor Modules
IWING-MRF modules from IWING LAB
250 kbps 2.4GHz IEEE 802.15.4
12MHz Atmel ATMega328P microcontroller
Sensors: Light, Temperature, Acceleration
Scenario

Monitor station

Sensor nodes measuring physical environment

WSN Platforms
Most are based on IEEE 802.15.4
(Wireless Low-Rate Personal Area
Network)

and many others

Future Trends
Many low-cost, wireless modules and SoC
(System on Chip) already available

NXP's JN5168 Module ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module

32-bit RISC CPU, 32K RAM 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 (~150 THB)
(~370 THB)
WSN Application Examples
Agriculture
Humidity/temperature
monitoring

Civil engineering
Structural response
Disaster management

Environmental sciences
Habitat monitoring
Conservation biology
WSN in Telemetry
Applications
Browser

sensor
sensor

Information
Server
wireless sensor node

GPRS
GPRS
Network
Network
Sensor field or
orInternet
Internet

Gateway
Internet of Things (IoT)

http://www.opinno.com/en/content/internet-things-0

2
Connected Living

NTT DoCoMo, Japan

http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/11/nismo-smartwatch/

2
Landslide Monitor
Real deployment scenario

2
Roles of Participants in
WSN
Sources of data: Measure data, report them
somewhere
Typically equip with different kinds of actual sensors

Sinks of data: Interested in receiving data from

WSN
May be part of the WSN or external entity, PDA,
gateway,

Actuators (actors): Control some device based

on data, usually also a sink WSN = WASN
2
Classifying Application
Types
Interaction patterns between
sources and sinks classify
application types
Event detection
Periodic measurement
Function approximation
Edge detection
Tracking

2
Deployment Options
Dropped from aircraft
Random deployment
Well planned, fixed
Regular deployment
Mobile sensor nodes
Can move to compensate for
deployment shortcomings
Can be passively moved around by
some external force (wind, water)
Can actively seek out interesting
areas 2
Maintenance Options
Feasible and/or practical to maintain
sensor nodes?
Replace batteries
Unattended operation
Impossible but not relevant
Energy supply
Limited from point of deployment
Some form of recharging / energy
scavenging

2
Characteristic
Requirements
Type of service of WSN
Not simply moving bits like another network
Rather: provide answers (not just numbers)
Geographic scoping are natural requirements
Quality of service
Fault tolerance
Lifetime: node/network
Scalability
Wide range of densities
Programmability
Maintainability

2
Required Mechanisms
Multi-hop wireless communication
Energy-efficient operation
Both for communication and
computation, sensing, actuating
Auto-configuration
Manual configuration just not an option
Collaboration & in-network
processing
Nodes in the network collaborate
towards a joint goal
Pre-processing data in network (as
opposed to at the edge) can greatly
improve efficiency 3
Required Mechanisms
Data centric networking
Focusing network design on data, not
on node identifies (id-centric
networking)
To improve efficiency
Locality
Do things locally (on node or among
nearby neighbors) as much as possible
Exploit tradeoffs
E.g., between invested energy and
accuracy 3
MANET vs. WSN -
Similarities
MANET Mobile Ad hoc Network
Self-organization
Energy efficiency
(Often) Wireless multi-hop

3
MANET vs. WSN -
Differences
Equipment: MANETs more powerful
Application-specific: WSNs depend
much stronger on application
specifics
Environment interaction: core of
WSN, absent in MANET
Scale: WSN might be much larger
(although contestable)
Energy: WSN tighter requirements,
maintenance issues
3
MANET vs. WSN -
Differences
Dependability/QoS: in WSN,
individual node may be dispensable
(network matters), QoS different
because of different applications
Addressing: Data centric vs. id-
centric networking

3
Enabling Technologies for
WSN
Cost reduction
For wireless communication, simple
microcontroller, system on chip,
sensing, batteries
Miniaturization
Some applications demand small size
Smart dust as the most extreme
vision
Energy scavenging
Recharge batteries from ambient
energy (light, vibration, ) 3
Conclusion
MANETs and WSNs are challenging
and promising system concepts
Many similarities, many differences
Both require new types of
architectures & protocols compared
to traditional wired/wireless
networks
In particular, application-specificness
is a new issue