Characteristics of Wireless Sensors

Today, smart grid, smart home, smart water network, smart transportation and other infrastructure are more connected to our world than we think. The common vision of such systems is usually related to a single problem, the Internet of Things (IOT). By using sensors, the entire physical infrastructure is tightly coupled with information and communication technologies, in which intelligent monitoring and management can be achieved by using embedded network devices. In such a complex dynamic system, devices are interconnected to transmit useful measurement information and control instructions through distributed sensor networks.

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network composed of a large number of sensor nodes. Each node is equipped with sensors to detect physical phenomena such as light, heat and pressure. WSNs is considered as a revolutionary information collection method to establish information and communication. The system will greatly improve the reliability and efficiency of infrastructure systems. Compared with wired solutions, WSNs have the advantages of easier deployment and better device flexibility. With the rapid development of sensor technology, wireless sensor network will become the key technology of the Internet of Things. Sensors are everywhere today. We take it for granted that it appears in our vehicles, our smartphones, factories that control carbon dioxide emissions, and even sensors that monitor soil conditions in vineyards on the ground. Although sensors have been around for some time, the research of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) began in the 1980s. Since 2001, WSNs have become more and more interested in industry and research. This is due to inexpensive, low-power micro components, such as processors, radios and sensors, which are usually integrated on a single chip (SoC).

The idea of the Internet of Things (IOT) is to develop in parallel with WSNs. "Internet of Things" was proposed by Kevin Ashton in 1999 (1). It refers to the only recognizable objects and their virtual representations in the "Internet Class" structure. These objects can range from large buildings, industrial buildings, aircraft, automobiles, machines, objects of any kind, specific parts of larger systems to humans, animals and plants, or even designate their body parts.

Although IOT does not undertake specific communication technologies, wireless communication technology will play an important role, especially wireless sensor networks will be widely used in many industries. Small, robust, inexpensive and low power WSN sensors will enable IOT to be installed in any environment at a reasonable cost, even at a minimum cost. Integrating these objects into the Internet of Things will be a significant evolution of wireless sensor networks.

WSN can usually be described as a network of nodes that cooperatively perceive and control the environment, enabling people or computers to interact with the surrounding environment. In fact, sensing, processing and activities that communicate with a limited amount of energy open a cross-layer design approach, which usually requires joint consideration of distributed signal/data processing, media access control and communication protocols.

By integrating existing WSN applications into part of infrastructure systems, potential new applications can be identified and developed to meet future technology and market trends. For example, WSN technology is used to generate large amounts of data in smart grid, intelligent water, intelligent transportation system and smart home, and these data can serve many purposes.