CPE3108: WIRELESS SENSOR

NETWORKS (WSN)
 COURSE PREREQUISITES
Computer networks and data
communication,
basic programming skills in C/C++, Java
or python
Knowledge on operating systems.
 COURSE OBJECTIVES
Obtain a broad understanding about the network architecture of wireless
sensor network.

Understand the characteristics of wireless sensor networks and sensor nodes.

Understand the principles of data transmission, clustering algorithm and

routing protocols.

Understand different constraint of wireless sensor network, e.g., coverage,

power management, security and data collisions.

Be able to design and develop new network architecture

Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, a student should be able to;
Describe and explain the function and use of wireless
sensor networks

Describe the concepts, protocols, and differences

underlying the design, implementation, and use of
wireless sensor networks

Describe and explain operating systems and

programming languages
Be familiar with architectures, functions and
performance of wireless sensor networks systems

Describe and analyze the specific requirements

for applications in wireless sensor

Propose, implement, and evaluate innovative

ideas for solving wireless sensor network design
issues.
 COURSE CONTENT
Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks Systems
Deployment and Configuration
Network and Component Technologies
Routing and Data gathering protocols
Introduction to Network Simulator (ns-3)
Data Storage and transmission
Embedded Operating Systems for wireless networks
Programming in Tiny OS
Dependability Issues
 DELIVERABLES
Lectures, demonstrations or projects

Two tests and two coursework (40%)

Final examination (60%)

Week6 (Test1 and Coursework1)

Week12 (Test2 and Coursork2)

 INTRODUCTION
The introduction of wireless network and
embedded microprocessors have enabled a
new generation of sensor technologies to
become part of commercial and military
applications.
With the advancement in technology, there
might evolve changes in the way people live,
work and interact with physical environment.
 In the near future, tiny sensors may be literally sprayed on the roads,
walls or machines which would be used to sense a variety of
physical environment of interest such as monitoring pedestrians or
vehicle traffic

 Advancement in technology has also brought some challenges

relating to information processing hence the need for algorithms,
protocols, design methodologies and tool to support distributed
signal processing, information storage and management,
networking and application development.
 Unique constraints and challenges
 A sensor network is subject to a unique set of resource constraints such as finite on-
board battery power and limited network communication bandwidth.

 NB

 In WSN;

 Each sensor node operates untethered and has a microprocessor and a small
amount of memory for signal processing and task scheduling.

 Each node is also equipped with one or more sensing devices like microphone
array, video or still cameras, infrared and magnetic sensor

 Each sensor node communicates wirelessly with a few other local nodes within
its radio communication range.
Sensor networks extends the existing internet deep into
the physical environment. The resulting new network
magnitudes is more expensive and dynamic than the
current TCP/IP network.

Information collected and transmitted on a sensor

network describes conditions of physical environments
such as temperature, humidity, vibrations etc

Sensor networks may internetwork with an IP core

network via a number of gateways.
 Agate way routes user queries or commands to appropriate nodes in a sensor
network. It also routes sensor data, at times aggregated and summarized to
users who have requested it or are expected to utilize the information.

 A data repository or storage may be present at the gateway in addition to

date logging at each sensor.

 The repository or storage may serve as an intermediary between user and the
sensor, providing a persistent data storage.

 Additionally, more data storage may be attached at the IP network to archive

sensor data from a number of edge sensor networks and to support user
browsing
 To communicate 1 bit of data over wireless network at a short range
consumes far more energy than processing that bit. Therefore, to
minimize this, there is need to reduce the amount and range of
communication as much as possible

 A sensor network is built to collect information from the physical

environment.

 To optimize the performance and resources like energy in a sensor

network, most developers of sensor networks tend to address nodes by
physical properties like location and proximity rather than the IP address.
 Challenges in designing sensor network system
applications
 Limited Hardware: each node has limited processing, storage and
communication capabilities and limited energy supply and bandwidth.

 Limited support for networking: the network is a peer-to-peer with mesh

topology which is dynamic, mobile and unreliable connectivity. Each node
acts as a router or an application host

 Limited support for software development: the tasks are real-time and
distributed with collaborations among nodes. Because of coupling
between applications and system layers, the software architecture must be
co-designed with the information processing architecture.
 Advantages of Sensor Networks (SN)
 SN is distributed therefore it helps to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by
reducing the average distances from sensor to source of signal or target.

 It increases energy efficiency due to the multi-hop topology of the network.

 It is robust and scalable. This is because of it being decentralized and any

failure in one node does not affect the network

 Energy Advantage

 Because of the unique attenuation characteristics of radio frequency (RF)

signals, a multi-hop RF network provides a significant energy saving over a
single-hop network for the same distance.
Detection advantage

Each sensor has a finite sensing range determined

by the noise floor at the sensor. Once a signal
source is inside a sensing range of that particular
sensor, the sensing density increases and the
distance from the sensor to the signal sources
decreases.
 SENSOR NETWORK APPLICATIONS
 A sensor network is designed to perform a set of high level information
processing tasks such as detection, tracking or classification. It is also
built with measures to detect false alarms or misses, classification errors
and track quality. Some of the applications are as below;
 Environmental monitoring such as traffic, security

 Industrial sensing and diagnostics such as factory, supply chain, appliances

 Infrastructure protection such as power grid, water distribution

 Battlefield awareness like tracking targets

 Context-aware computing such as intelligent home, responsive environment

Habitat Monitoring

 wild life conservation through autonomous and nonintrusive

sensing.

 In the wake of COVID-19, Rwanda made a lot from tourism using a

technology of Virtual reality while Uganda closed fully its tourism
sector. People are able to view the birds or animals at the comfort
of their homes because the sensors are installed in the parks.

 The sensor nodes are able to gather data and relay it to the
satellites
Tracking chemical plumes

 Real time deployment for mitigation of disasters.

 If an industry producing dangerous chemicals accidentally realized that

there is a leakage of the gas.

 This may prompt emergency evacuation of staff and sealing off the
building and the area.

 To identify the pipe with leakage, sensor nodes may be deployed.

 It would gather information such as location of the pipe, how big is the
leakage, the shape of the leakage and how fast the leakage is moving
Smart Transportation

networked sensors are making Roads safer and less congested.

A number of sensors are already in use to monitor and manage

traffic.

Some are embedded on the roads to monitor traffic flows and

violation such as cameras mounted along the streets to detect
traffic violations.

With sensor road network, we could reduce congestion, help

people find the nearest parking space in unfamiliar city.
Cars with sensor network could warn each other
of an imminent collision or other road hazards
ahead.
Sensor network is very good to guard power
plant, airports and very key places against any
unauthorized attack by remitting real time
information
 COLLABORATIVE PROCESSING

In a WSN, sensors are required in processing data

by all nodes and combining information from the
various sources. This promotes efficient usage of
bandwidth compared to the traditional method
where data would be relayed to a centralized
point for processing
 KEY DEFINATIONS OF SENSOR NETWORK

SENSOR: An electronic device that converts a physical data

such as heat, light, sound or motion into electrical or other
signals that may later be manipulated by other devices.

SENSOR NODES: A basic unit in a sensor network with on-board

sensor, processor, memory, wireless modem and power supply.

It is often referred to as node

When a node has only a single sensor on board, it is sometimes

referred to as a sensor
 Network Topology: A connectivity graph where nodes are sensor nodes
and edges are communication links.

 In a wireless network, the link represents a one-hop connection and the

neighbor of the node are those within the radio range of the node.

 Routing: The process of determining a network path from a packet source

node to its destination

 Date-Centric: Approaches that name, route, or access a pieces of data

via properties such as physical location that are external to a
communication network
 Geographic routing: Routing of data based on the Geographic
attributes such as locations or regions. This is an example of date-
centric networking.

 In-network: A style of processing in which data is processed and

combined near where the data is generated.

 Collaborating processing: Sensors cooperatively processing data

from multiple sources in order to serve a high level task. For this to
happen, there is need for communication among a set of nodes
State: a snap shot about a physical environment or the
system
Uncertainty: a condition of the information caused by
noise in a sensor measurement.
Uncertainty affects the state accuracy and must be
carefully looked at.
Task: this could be high level such as sensing,
communication, processing and resource allocation
 Detection: The process of discovering the existence of a physical
phenomenon

 Classification: assigning of class labels to a set of physical phenomenon

being observed

 Localization and tracking: the estimation of the state of a physical

phenomenon or a sensor node from a set measurement. Tracking helps to
produce a series of estimates over time.

 Value of information or information Utility: Mapping of data to a scalar

number in the context of the overall system task and knowledge
 Resource: Resources include sensors, communication links, processors, on-
board memory, and node energy reserves.

 Resources allocation assigns resources to tasks with the goal to optimize

performance

 Sensor tasking: the assignment of sensors to a particular tasks and the

control of sensor state with the aim of accomplishing the task.

 Node services: services such as time synchronization and node localization

that enable applications to discover properties of the nodes to organize
themselves into a useful network.
 Data storage: sensor information is stored, indexed and accessed by
applications. Storage may be local to the nodes where data is
generated.
 Embedded operating system: the run time system support for sensor
network applications. An embedded OS typically provides for an
abstraction of system resources and a set of utilities.
 System performance goal: the abstract characterization of system
properties such as scalability, robustness and network longevity which
are each measured by evaluation metrics
 Evaluation matric: A measurable quantity that describes how well the
system is performing of some absolute scale
 NETWORK TOPOLOGIES
Point to Point Topology

Mesh Topology

Star Topology

Bus Topology

Ring Topology

Tree Topology

Hybrid Topology