Wireless Sensor Network

Prabhakar Dhekne
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
August 24, 2006

Talk at SASTRA

Why Talk About

Wireless?

Wireless communication is not a new technology but cell

phones have brought revolution in wireless communication
Wireless Technology has changed the way
Organizations & individuals work & live today
In less than 10 years

World has moved from fixed to wireless networks

Allowing people, mobile devices & computers talk to each other,
connect without a cable
Only available option for field data acquisition

Interconnectivity with multiple devices

Using radio-waves, sometimes light

Frees user from many constrains of traditional computer &
phone system
August 24, 2006

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Ubiquitous
Computing

Future State of Computing Technology?

Mobile, many computers

Small Processors
Low Power Consumption
Relatively Low Cost

August 24, 2006

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Ubiquitous
Computing

Small, mobile, inexpensive

computers..everywhere!
Fade into the background of everyday life
Computers everywhere provides potential for data
collection.sensors!

Temperature
Light
Sound
Motion
Pressure
Many others!!!

August 24, 2006

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Growth in Wireless
Systems
Rapid
growth in cellular voice services
Cell phones everywhere!
Several wireless technology options have been available for the
last ~10-20 yrs
mini cell stations using existing standards like CDMA or
GSM
wireless PABX using PCS standards such as DECT or
PHS/PACS
satellite and microwave backhaul
Above solutions OK for voice & low-speed data, but do not
meet emerging needs for broadband access and mobile data

August 24, 2006

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Mobile Healthcare
Technologies
Mobile Healthcare can be regarded
as the integration of technologies
of
medical
sensors,
mobile
computing,
and
wireless
communications into a system of
medical assistance.

August 24, 2006

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Application
Examples

Monitoring of patients vital signs

Diabetes
Asthma
Hypertension
ECG

Predictive usage in order to

minimize the needs for medication
Improving the quality of life

August 24, 2006

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Potential Benefits

Increasing the physician productivity and

efficiency.
Wireless sensors enable the patients
freedom of movements and therefore
promote new ways of monitoring the patient.
Providing
clinicians
remote
access
to
patients information eliminates the need to
manually
locate
and
search
through
patients data.
Enabling
telemonitoring
in
emergency
scenarios and making remote diagnosis
possible.
August 24, 2006

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Mobile
Healthcare

The provision of Real Time patient

care.

No matter where the clinician is

No matter where the patient is
To apply physiological and medical knowledge,
advanced diagnostics, simulations, and effector systems
integrated with information and telecommunications for
the purposes of enhancing operational and medical
decision-making, improving medical training, and
delivering medical treatment across all barriers

August 24, 2006

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Typical Demo System

The patient is provided with a wearable

wireless sensor. The signal from the
sensor is captured in a Node situated in
a mobile phone.

The system allows ubiquitous access to

patients data and medical information
in real-time via the mobile phone.

The medical data is stored & processed

in a server, and can be used for
establishing diagnostics and treatments.
August 24, 2006

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Application server

Application server centralises the

received data and presents it to the
user as:

Raw data
Formatted as graphs
App Server

DB
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Wireless
Technology

Emerging mainstream wireless technologies provide powerful building

blocks for next-generation applications

WLAN (IEEE 802.11 WiFi) hot-spots for broadband access, Bluetooth

PDAs and laptops with integrated WLANs

Broadband Wireless access technology- MAN (Alternative to DSL)

IEEE 802.16 10-30 Km 40 Mbps WiMax

Wide area wireless data also growing

SMS, GPRS, Edge, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (2.4 Mbps data optimized)

Variety of interesting devices (e.g. Treo, Sidekick)

Networking of embedded devices

Smart spaces, sensor networks (IEEE 802.15.4a- ZigBee)

Context-aware mobile data services and web caching for information
services
Wireless sensor nets for monitoring and control
VOIP for integrated voice services over wireless data networks

August 24, 2006

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IrDA: P2P wireless

Infra-red Data Association

Based on Half Duplex Point-to-Point concept

Frequency below the red end of spectrum

making it invisible

Eliminate the need for cables

Clear line-of-sight

Short-range (few meters)

Simplest, most prevailing wireless
standard
No fixed speed 9.6 Kbps, 4Mbps
Discovery Mode to find out data rate, size
Token based transmission
IrDA ports on PDA, Laptops USB sticks
Remote Control in TV, VCR, Air-conditioner

Port costs less than Rs.

1000
August 24, 2006

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Bluetooth: Wireless PAN

Bluetooth (Named after Danish

King Harold Bluetooth)
Based on Master-Slave concept

Short-range (10 meters)

Eliminate the need for cables

Operates in 2.4 GHz ISM band

720 Kbps

Three modes of operation park/hold/snif

Piconet & Scatternet (master+7 slaves)
Interference due to multiple piconets
and IEEE 802.15.1 home/person LAN
To eliminate interference frequency
hoping technique used
Ominidirectional with both voice & data

August 24, 2006

M1
S
1

S
1

S
2
M 1/S1

Piconet 1

S
2

Piconet 2

Port costs about Rs.

Talk at2000
SASTRA

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Wi-Fi: Wireless LAN (Hot

Spot)

Wireless Fidelity based LAN

Most popular on Laptops

Replacement to wired LAN

Connectivity on the move

Short-range (100 meters)

Ad Hoc and Base station mode

Security provided at physical layer

Operates in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz

Collection of IEEE standards
802.11a/b/g 11 Mpbs & 54 Mbps
Low range, requires more power
hence not suitable for PDAs
Difficult to control access &
security
Set up is expensive

Ad Hoc
Net

Access
Point Net

August 24, 2006

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Wi-Max: Wireless MAN

Wireless Max
High Speed 40-70 Mbps

Mid-range (30 Kmeters)

Eliminate the need for cables

Saving of wired cost

Operates in 2.4 GHz ISM band

IEEE standard 802.16

August 24, 2006

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Issues in Wireless
Networking

Infrastructured networks

Handof
location management (mobile IP)
channel assignment

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Issues in Wireless
Networking
Infrastructureless networks
Wireless MAC
Security (integrity, authentication,
confidentiality)
Ad Hoc Routing Protocols
Multicasting and Broadcasting

August 24, 2006

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Indoor Environments

Three popular technologies

- High Speed Wireless LANs

(802.11b (2.4GHz,

11 Mbps), 802.11a (5GHz, 54 Mbps & higher)

- Wireless Personal area Networks PANs

(IEEE

804.14)

HomeRF

Bluetooth, 802.15

- Wireless device networks

Sensor networks, wirelessly networked robots

August 24, 2006

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What is an Ad hoc
Collection
of mobile wireless nodes forming
Network

a network without the aid of any

infrastructure or centralized administration
Nodes have limited transmission range
Nodes act as a routers

August 24, 2006

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Ad Hoc Networks

Disaster recovery
Battlefield
Smart office
Rapidly deployable
infrastructure

Wireless: cabling impractical

Ad-Hoc: no advance planning

Backbone network:
wireless IP routers

August 24, 2006

Network of access devices

Wireless: untethered
Ad-hoc: random deployment

Edge network: Sensor networks,

Personal Area Networks (PANs), etc.
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Ad Hoc Network

Characteristics

Dynamic topologies
Limited channel bandwidth
Variable capacity links
Energy-constrained operation
Limited physical security

Applications

Military battlefield networks

Personal Area Networks (PAN)
Disaster and rescue operation
Peer to peer networks
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Security Challenges in
Ad
Hoc Networks
Lack
of Infrastructure
or centralized control

Dynamic topology

Difficult to prevent eavesdropping

Vulnerabilities of routing mechanism

Challenging to design sophisticated & secure

routing protocols

Communication through Radio Waves

Key management becomes difficult

Non-cooperation of nodes

Vulnerabilities of nodes

Captured or Compromised
August 24, 2006

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Security

Challenges in ad hoc network security

Secure the Routing Mechanism

The nodes are constantly mobile

The protocols implemented are co-operative in nature
There is a lack of a fixed infrastructure to collect audit data
No clear distinction between normalcy and anomaly in ad
hoc networks
A mechanism that satisfies security attributes like
authentication, confidentiality, non-repudiation and
integrity

Secure the Key Management Scheme

Robust key certification and key distribution mechanism

August 24, 2006

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Services while on move

services

Sensor services
exercise monitor
biometrics
traffic information

Calendar+ service
Integrate dynamic traffic & schedule
Doctor prescription service
track health indicators
Doctor write prescription

Sensors

mobile devices

Follow me kiosk service

receive and transmit messages
Fridge & shopping service
Fridge records stock
Suggests shopping based on recipe
Shopping guide in store

Scalable, reliable,
consistent, distributed
August 24, 2006
service

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Tourist guide

Stuttgart tourist guide

Like MapQuest except on mobile

device

Mapping local interests

Museums historical sites

Shopping & restaurants Sample Data
Small text with description, operating
hours
Local map
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How it works

Info station

Scaleable by load balancing

Island of wireless station

Embedded in area
Users have cheap low bandwidth components
Integrated to network with high quality connection
Requires some overlap to manage transition
between stations for hand of
Each center contains unique information
Overhead of communication

Initialize externally specified; adjusts quickly

August 24, 2006

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Map-on-the-move

Provide appropriate map

County resolution driving in car
Info stations small area high
bandwidth
Remainder lower bandwidth

August 24, 2006

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Problems in a Mobile
Environment
Variable Bandwidth
Disconnected Operation
Limited Power
Implications on distributed file
system support?

August 24, 2006

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Constraints in mobile
computing
PDA
vs. Laptop vs. cell phones

Cellular modem connection: Failure

prone
Space: office vs. city vs. county
Not continuous connectivity required
Data such as pictures text files not
streaming audio and video
Heterogeneous devices
August 24, 2006

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MANET: Mobile Ad hoc

Networks

A collection of wireless mobile nodes dynamically forming a

network without any existing infrastructure and the relative
position dictate communication links (dynamically changing).

From DARPA Website

August 24, 2006

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Rapidly Deployable Networks

Failure of communication networks is a critical problem

faced by first responders at a disaster site

In addition, existing networks even if they survive may

not be optimized for services needed at site

major switches and routers serving the region often damaged

cellular cell towers may survive, but sufer from traffic overload
and dependence on (damaged) wired infrastructure for backhaul

significant increase in mobile phone traffic needs to be served

first responders need access to data services (email, www,...)
new requirements for peer-to-peer communication, sensor net or
robotic control at the site

Motivates need for rapidly deployable networks that

meet both the above needs -> recent advances in wireless

technology can be harnessed to provide significant new capabilities

August 24, 2006

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Infostations Prototype: System

for Rapid Deployment
Applications
Outdoor Infostations with
radio backhaul

for first responders to set up

wireless communications
infrastructure at a disaster site
provides WLAN services and
access to cached data
wireless backhaul link
includes data cache

Project for development of:

high-speed short-range radios

802.11 MAC enhancements
content caching algorithm &
software
hardware integration including
solar panels, antennas and
embedded computing device with
WLAN card
WINLABs Outdoor Infostations Prototype (2002)
August 24, 2006
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Ad-Hoc Wireless
A flexible,
open-architecture ad-hoc WLAN and sensor network
Network
testbed ...

open-source Linux routers, APs and terminals (commercial

hardware)
Linux and embedded OS forwarding and sensor nodes (custom)
radio link and global network monitoring/visualization tools
prototype ad-hoc discovery and routing protocols
802.11b
PDA

Management
stations
Radio Monitor

AP

Forwarding Node/AP
(custom)

802.11b
Linux PC

Commercial
802.11
Router network
with arbitrary topology

Compute
& storage
servers

PC-based
Linux router

August 24, 2006

PC

Talk at SASTRA

Sensor Node
(custom)

35

What is a WSN?
Sensor: The device

Observer: The end user/computer

Phenomenon: The entity of interest to the observer

A network that is formed when a set of small sensor

devices that are deployed in an ad hoc fashion no
predefined routes, cooperate for sensing a physical
phenomenon.
A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of base
stations and a number of wireless sensors.
Is simple, tiny, inexpensive, and battery-powered
August 24, 2006

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Why Wireless Sensors

Now?
Moores Law is making sufficient CPU performance
available with low power requirements in a small size.

Research in Materials Science has resulted in novel

sensing materials for many Chemical, Biological, and
Physical sensing tasks.

Transceivers for wireless devices are becoming

smaller, less expensive, and less power hungry (low
power tiny Radio Chips).

Power source improvements in batteries, as well as

passive power sources such as solar or vibration
energy, are expanding application options.
August 24, 2006

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Typical Sensor Node

Features
A
sensor node has:

Sensing Material

Integrated Circuitry (VLSI)

Physical Magnetic, Light, Sound

Chemical CO, Chemical Weapons
Biological Bacteria, Viruses, Proteins
A-to-D converter from sensor to circuitry

Packaging for environmental safety

Power Supply

Passive Solar, Vibration

Active Battery power, RF Inductance

August 24, 2006

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Sensor Node Hardware

Sensor + Actuator + ADC + Microprocessor + Powering Unit
+ Communication Unit (RF Transceiver) + GPS

Portable and self-sustained (power, communication, intelligence).

Capable of embedded complex data processing.

August 24, 2006

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Sensors and Wireless Radio

August 24, 2006

Types of sensors:
-Pressure,
-Temperature
-Light
-Biological
-Chemical
-Strain, fatigue
-Tilt
Capable to survive harsh
environments (heat,
humidity, corrosion, pollution
etc).
No source of interference to
systems being monitored
and/or surrounding systems.
Could be deployed in large
numbers.
Talk at SASTRA

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Wireless Sensor
Networks

ZigBee Wireless
Communication Protocol

Based on the IEEE 802.15.4

standard
Small form factor
Relatively Inexpensive
Low Power Consumption
Low Data Rate of Communication
Self Organising, Self-Healing
multi-hop nodes
Integrated Sensors
Ideal for Wireless Sensor Network
Applications

August 24, 2006

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WSN APPLICATIONS

Potential for new intelligent applications:

Smart Homes
Process monitoring and control
Security/Surveillance
Environmental Monitoring
Construction
Medical/Healthcare

Implemented with Wireless Sensor Networks!

August 24, 2006

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Medical and Healthcare Appln

Remote
Databases

Backbone
Backbone
Network
Network

Net Switch

In Hospital
Physician

Net Switch

Wireless Remote
consultation
Possibility for Remote consulting
(including Audio Visual communication)
August 24, 2006

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Medical and Healthcare

Applications

Sensors equipped
with BlueTooth

August 24, 2006

Source:
USC Web Site
Talk
at SASTRA

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iBadge - UCLA

Investigate behavior of children/patient

Features:
Speech recording / replaying
Position detection
Direction detection / estimation
(compass)
Weather data: Temperature, Humidity,
Pressure, Light

August 24, 2006

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Other Examples

MIT d'Arbelof Lab The ring sensor

Monitors the physiological status of the

wearer and transmits the information to
the medical professional over the
Internet

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nose-on-a-chip is a MEMS-based sensor

It can detect 400 species of gases and

transmit a signal indicating the level to
a central control station

VERICHIP: Miniaturised, Implanted,

Identification Technology

August 24, 2006

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Structural Health
Accelerometerboardprototype,
Monitoring
RuizSandoval,Nagayama&Spencer,
CivilE.,U.IllinoisUrbanaChampaign

Modelbridgewithattachedwirelesssensors,
B.F.SpencersLab,CivilE.,U.IllinoisUC

August 24, 2006

SemiactiveHydraulicDamper
(SHD),KajimaCorporation,Japan

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Application in
Environment Monitoring

Measuring pollutant
concentration

Pass on information
to monitoring station

Predict current
location of pollutant
volume based on
various parameters

Pollutants monitored by sensors in

the river

ST

Sensors report to the base

monitoring station

Take corrective
action
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August 24, 2006

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Vehicular Traffic Control

August 24, 2006

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Project at The University of California, Davis

US FCC allocated 5.850 to

5.925 GHz dedicated short
range communication
(DSRC)
Road side to Vehicle
Vehicle to vehicle
communication

VMesh: Distributed Data Sensing, Rel

August
2006
TalkVehicular
at SASTRA
aying,
&24,Computing
via
Wir

51

Network characteristics of
WSN

Generally, the network:

Consists of a large number of sensors (103 to

106)
Spread over large geographical region
(radius = 1 to 103 km)
Spaced out in 1, 2, or 3 dimensions
Is self-organizing
Uses wireless media
May use intermediate collators
August 24, 2006

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Sensor Network Topology

Hundreds of nodes require careful handling of

topology maintenance.
Predeployment and deployment phase
Numerous ways to deploy the sensors (mass,
individual placement, dropping from plane..)
Postdeployment phase
Factors are sensor nodes position change,
reachability due to jamming, noise, obstacles etc,
available energy, malfunctioning, theft, sabotage
Redeployment of additional nodes phase
Redeployment because of malfunctioning of units
August 24, 2006

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Organization into Ad Hoc

Net

Individual sensors are quite limited.

Full potential is realized only by using a

large number of sensors.

Sensors are then organized into an ad

hoc network.

Need efficient protocols to route and

manage data in this network.
August 24, 2006

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Network Topologies

Star

Single Hop Network

All nodes communicate
directly with Gateway
No router nodes
Cannot self-heal
Range 30-100m
Consumes lowest power

August 24, 2006

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Network
Topologies

Mesh

Multi-hopping network
All nodes are routers
Self-configuring network
Node fails, network selfheals
Re-routes data through
shortest path
Highly fault tolerant
network
Multi-hopping provides
much longer range
Higher power
consumptionnodes must
always listen!

August 24, 2006

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Network
Topologies

Star-Mesh Hybrid

Combines of stars low

power and
meshs self-healing
and longer range
All endpoint sensor
nodes can communicate
with multiple routers
Improves fault tolerance
Increases network
communication range
High degree of flexibility
and mobility

August 24, 2006

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Self-Organizing WLAN

Opportunistic ad-hoc wireless networking concepts starting to mature

Initial use to extend WLAN range in user-deployed networks
Based on novel auto-discovery and multi-hop routing protocols
extends the utility and reach of low-cost/high speed WiFi equipment

AP1

Wired
WiredNetwork
Network
Infrastructure
Infrastructure

AP2

802.11 Access to
AP

Ad-hoc radio link

(w/multi-hop routing

Ad-hoc
Infrastructure
links

Ad-hoc access
To FN
Forwarding
Node (FN)

Mobile Node (MN)

(end-user)
Self-organizing
Ad-hoc WLAN

August 24, 2006

Forwarding Node (FN)

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How to get information

from Data-centric Sensor Networks?

Types of Queries:

Historical Queries: Analysis of data collected over time

One Time Queries: Snapshot view of the network
Persistent Queries: Periodic monitoring at long and regular
intervals

Routing required to respond to a Query:

Application specific
Data centric
Data aggregation capability desirable
Need to minimize energy consumption
August 24, 2006

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Software
Framework

MAC layer (Tiny OS, routing)

Configuration Table

Power consumption status & replacement strategy

Sensor Data Management
Middleware
Application (passing parameters via API)
August 24, 2006

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Technical
challenges

Sensor design
Self-organizing network, that requires
0-configuration of sensors

Random or planned deployment of

sensors, and collators

Auto-addressing
Auto-service discovery
Sensor localization
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Power
Limited
Consumption
Power Source

Battery Lifetime is limited

Each sensor node plays a dual role of data

originator and data router (data processor)

The malfunctioning of a few nodes

consumes lot of energy (rerouting of packets
and significant topological changes)
August 24, 2006

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Environmental Factors

Wireless sensors need to operate in

conditions that are not encountered by
typical computing devices:

Rain, sleet, snow, hail, etc.

Wide temperature variations

May require separating sensor from electronics

High humidity
Saline or other corrosive substances
High wind speeds
August 24, 2006

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Historical Comparison
Consider a 40 Year Old Computer

Model

Honeywell H-300

Mica 2

Date

6/1964

7/2003

CPU

2 MHz

4 MHz

Memor
y

32 KB

128 KB

???

512 KB

SRAM
August 24, 2006

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Advances in Wireless
Sensor Nodes
Consider Multiple Generations of Berkeley Motes

Model
Date
CPU
Flash
Memor
y
SRAM

Rene 2 Rene 2 Mica

Mica 2
10/200
6/2001 2/2002 7/2003
0
4 MHz 8 MHz 4 MHz 4 MHz
8 KB

32 KB
10
Radio
August 24, 2006
Kbps

16 KB

128 KB 128 KB

32 KB
10
Kbps

512 KB 512 KB
40
40
Talk at SASTRA
Kbps Kbps

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Summary

Sensor networks will facilitate one to address

several societal issues:

Applications in other sectors

Early-warning systems
Disaster mitigation
Security, transportation, irrigation

Technology is available today

Research into new sensors

Needs experimentation, pilot deployment
Lots needs to be done in Software (OS, MAC, Application)
While cost is an issue today, it will not be so tomorrow
August 24, 2006

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References

Wireless & Mobile Systems Prof Dharma Prakash

Agrawal and H. Deng

Integrating Wireless Technology in the Enterprise

by Williams Wheeler, Elsevier Digital Press

Circuits & Systems for Wireless Communications

Edited by Markus Helfenstein and George S.
Moschytz, Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Any
Questions?

August 24, 2006

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