6/5/2016

WhatIsaWirelessSensorNetwork?NationalInstruments

WhatIsaWirelessSensorNetwork?
PublishDate:May05,2016

Overview

Awirelesssensornetwork(WSN)isawirelessnetworkconsistingofspatiallydistributed
autonomousdevicesusingsensorstomonitorphysicalorenvironmentalconditions.AWSN
systemincorporatesagatewaythatprovideswirelessconnectivitybacktothewiredworld
anddistributednodes(seeFigure1).Thewirelessprotocolyouselectdependsonyour
applicationrequirements.Someoftheavailablestandardsinclude2.4GHzradiosbasedon
eitherIEEE802.15.4orIEEE802.11(WiFi)standardsorproprietaryradios,whichare
usually900MHz.
TableofContents

1.PotentialApplications
2.WSNSystemArchitecture
3.WSNNetworkTopologies
4.ComponentsofaWSNNode
5.DeliveringLabVIEWConnectivityforWSNSystems
6.RelatedLinks

Figure1.WSNComponents,Gateway,andDistributedNodes
1.PotentialApplications

EngineershavecreatedWSNapplicationsforareasincludinghealthcare,utilities,and
remotemonitoring.Inhealthcare,wirelessdevicesmakelessinvasivepatientmonitoring
andhealthcarepossible.Forutilitiessuchastheelectricitygrid,streetlights,andwater
municipals,wirelesssensorsofferalowercostmethodforcollectingsystemhealthdatato
reduceenergyusageandbettermanageresources.Remotemonitoringcoversawiderange
ofapplicationswherewirelesssystemscancomplementwiredsystemsbyreducingwiring
costsandallowingnewtypesofmeasurementapplications.Remotemonitoringapplications
include:
Environmentalmonitoringofair,water,andsoil
Structuralmonitoringforbuildingsandbridges
Industrialmachinemonitoring
Processmonitoring
Assettracking
Learnhowresearchersareusingwirelessmeasurementstomonitorcarbontransferinrain
forestsbyreadingthecasestudy,ResearchersUseNILabVIEWandCompactRIOto
PerformEnvironmentalMonitoringintheCostaRicanRainForest.
(http://sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs11143)
2.WSNSystemArchitecture

Thissiteusescookiestoofferyouabetterbrowsingexperience.Learnmoreaboutourprivacypolicy.(http://www.ni.com/legal/privacy/unitedstates/us/)

Figure2.WSNSystemArchitectureCombinesWiredandWireless
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WhatIsaWirelessSensorNetwork?NationalInstruments

Wirelesstechnologyoffersseveraladvantagesforthosewhocanbuildwiredandwireless
systemsandtakeadvantageofthebesttechnologyfortheapplication.Todothis,youneed
aflexiblesoftwarearchitectureliketheNILabVIEWgraphicalsystemdesignplatform.
LabVIEWofferstheflexibilityneededtoconnectawiderangeofwiredandwirelessdevices
(seeFigure2).
3.WSNNetworkTopologies

WSNnodesaretypicallyorganizedinoneofthreetypesofnetworktopologies.Inastar
topology,eachnodeconnectsdirectlytoagateway.Inaclustertreenetwork,eachnode
connectstoanodehigherinthetreeandthentothegateway,anddataisroutedfromthe
lowestnodeonthetreetothegateway.Finally,toofferincreasedreliability,meshnetworks
featurenodesthatcanconnecttomultiplenodesinthesystemandpassdatathroughthe
mostreliablepathavailable.Thismeshlinkisoftenreferredtoasarouter(seeFigure3).

Figure3.CommonWSNNetworkTopologies
4.ComponentsofaWSNNode

AWSNnodecontainsseveraltechnicalcomponents.Theseincludetheradio,battery,
microcontroller,analogcircuit,andsensorinterface.WhenusingWSNradiotechnology,you
mustmakeimportanttradeoffs.Inbatterypoweredsystems,higherradiodataratesand
morefrequentradiouseconsumemorepower.Oftenthreeyearsofbatterylifeisa
requirement,somanyoftheWSNsystemstodayarebasedonZigBeeduetoitslowpower
consumption.Becausebatterylifeandpowermanagementtechnologyareconstantly
evolvingandbecauseoftheavailableIEEE802.11bandwidth,WiFiisaninteresting
technology.
ThesecondtechnologyconsiderationforWSNsystemsisthebattery.Inadditiontolonglife
requirements,youmustconsiderthesizeandweightofbatteriesaswellasinternational
standardsforshippingbatteriesandbatteryavailability.Thelowcostandwideavailabilityof
carbonzincandalkalinebatteriesmakethemacommonchoice.
Toextendbatterylife,aWSNnodeperiodicallywakesupandtransmitsdatabypoweringon
theradioandthenpoweringitbackofftoconserveenergy.WSNradiotechnologymust
efficientlytransmitasignalandallowthesystemtogobacktosleepwithminimalpoweruse.
Thismeanstheprocessorinvolvedmustalsobeabletowake,powerup,andreturntosleep
modeefficiently.MicroprocessortrendsforWSNsincludereducingpowerconsumptionwhile
maintainingorincreasingprocessorspeed.Muchlikeyourradiochoice,thepower
consumptionandprocessingspeedtradeoffisakeyconcernwhenselectingaprocessorfor
WSNs.Thismakesthex86architectureadifficultoptionforbatterypowereddevices.

Figure4.WSNSensorNodeComponents
5.DeliveringLabVIEWConnectivityforWSNSystems

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WhatIsaWirelessSensorNetwork?NationalInstruments

LabVIEWasaplatformoffersabroadrangeofconnectivityoptionsincludingLabVIEW
driversforWSN.ThesedriversareavailableforWSNsystemsfromCrossbow,Accsense,
andAccutech(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5435),anddriversarecurrentlybeing
developedforBanner,MeshNetics,andTechkorWSNsystems.
6.RelatedLinks

DownloadLabVIEWDriversforWirelessSensorNetworksforFree
(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5435)

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