18-Feb-20

Chapter 5

SENSOR
And
WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

Introduction

 Wireless Sensor Networks combine sensing,

processing and networking over miniaturized
embedded devices → sensor nodes
 Key Features that differentiate them from
conventional data networks
 Power autonomous (operating mainly on batteries)
 Highly scalable: distributed in scales of hundreds (or
thousands)
 Operate in a ad-hoc manner, i.e., does not require fixed
infrastructure (e.g. GSM or WiFi routers)
 Easy to deploy
 Cost-effective (cheap hardware)
 Low data rates (max 1Mbps)

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 Key characteristic that distinguishes them from

remaining networks is the reasoning of existence:
 Collect information from the physical environment –
regardless of how easily accessible that is;
 Couple the end-users directly to the sensor measurements (
cyber to physical space);
 Provide information that is precisely localized (in spatio-
temporal terms) according to the application demands;
 Establish a bi-directional link with the physical space
(remote & adaptable actuation based on the sensing
stimulus)

 Application Areas: Everywhere

there is a need for monitoring a
physical space OR using sensors for
controlling a procedure. For
example:
 Industrial Control: Networked Control
Systems – closing the industrial loop
over WSN
 Environmental Monitoring &
Agriculture: Wild Life Monitoring,
Vineyards, Forest Fire Detection
 Structural Health Monitoring
 Marine monitoring: Ocean life &
ecosystem
 Health Care: rehabilitation,
prosthetics, chronic conditions
management, emergency response

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Sensing and Sensors

 Sensing: technique to gather information about
physical objects or areas
 Sensor (transducer): object performing a sensing
task; converting one form of energy in the
physical world into electrical energy
 Examples of sensors from biology: the human
body
 eyes: capture optical information (light)
 ears: capture acoustic information (sound)
 nose: captures olfactory information (smell)
 skin: captures tactile information (shape, texture)

Sensor and Actuator

 A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts
it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an
instrument. (Wikipedia)

 An actuator is a device for moving/controlling a

mechanism/system, or generate some output, e.g., motor, LED,
buzzer, speaker, etc.
 Sensors and actuators are bridges between real and digital world

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Sensing (Data Acquisition)

 Sensors capture phenomena in the physical world (process, system,
plant)
 Signal conditioning prepare captured signals for further use
(amplification,attenuation, filtering of unwanted frequencies, etc.)
 Analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) translates analog signal into digital
signal
 Digital signal is processed and output is often given (via digital-analog
converter and signal conditioner) to an actuator (device able to control
the physical world)

 Sensor Node
 Basic unit in sensor network
 Contains on-board sensors,
processor, memory,
transceiver, and power
supply

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 Sensing Elements
 Sensors: capture a signal corresponding to a physical phenomenon
(process, system, plant)
 Signal conditioning prepare captured signals for
further use (amplification, attenuation, filtering of unwanted
frequencies, etc.)
 Analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) translates analog signal into
digital signal
 Model to translate raw value to measurable unit

 Processing Elements
 Traditionally: 16-bit archs
 Moving towards higher
computational capacity
(32 bit – ARM technologies)
 When programming a sensor
node →
programming its μProcessor to:
 access the peripheral devices
(transceiver, leds, sensors etc)
 handle, store, modify the
acquired information
 Direct programming on the
microprocessor (low level C /
Assembly) OR using Real-time
Operating Systems

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 Transceivers
 Conventional: low-level PHY functionalities:
frequency and channels, spectrum handling,
modulation, bit rate. Advanced network
functionalities and processing are
implemented on software (i.e.
microprocessor)
 Current Trend: System-on-Chip -> allows
implementation of a sophisticated protocol
stack on the chip (dedicated microprocessor
& memory)
 Either way: it is the element with the highest
power consumption
 Radio Duty Cycling: putting transceiver to
different states:
 Transmit / Receive
 Idle: ready to receive
 Sleep: significant parts of the chip are switched off

 Interaction with the outer

world
 Gateway: routes user queries
or commands to appropriate
nodes in a sensor network and
sensor data, at times
aggregated and summarized,
to users who have requested it
or are expected to utilize the
information.
 Data repository/storage
service:persistent data storage.
 Data analytics & Provision of
services

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Sensors

 Enabled by recent advances

in MEMS technology
 Integrated Wireless
Transceiver
 Limited in
 Energy
 Computation
 Storage
 Transmission range
 Bandwidth

Sensors

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Sensor Nodes

 A sensor node, also called a mote in North America, is a WSN

node that is capable of performing some processing, gathering
sensory information and communicating with other connected
nodes in the WSN

Examples for Wireless Sensor Nodes

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Sensor Nodes

General Features of Sensor Node

 Small Size : few mm to a few inches
 Limited processing and communication
 MHz clock, MB flash, KB RAM, 100’s Kbps
(wireless) bandwidth
 Limited power (MICA: 7-10 days at full blast)
 Failure prone nodes and links (due to deployment,
fab,wireless medium, etc.)
 But easy to manufacture and deploy in large
numbers
 Need to offset this with scalable and fault-tolerant
OS’s and protocols

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Sensors (contd.)
 The overall architecture of a sensor
node consists of:
 The sensor node processing subsystem
running on sensor node main CPU
 The sensor subsystem and
 The communication subsystem
 The processor and radio board
includes:
 TI MSP430 microcontroller with 10kB RAM
 16-bit RISC with 48K Program Flash
 IEEE 802.15.4 compliant radio at 250 Mbps
 1MB external data flash
 Runs TinyOS 1.1.10 or higher
 Two AA batteries or USB
 1.8 mA (active); 5.1uA (sleep)

Overall Architecture of a Sensor Node

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Sensor Networks
 A sensor network (SN) is consisted of multiple interconnected
sensors.
 A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed
autonomous sensors (called sensor nodes) to cooperatively monitor
physical or environmental conditions → Sensors + Wireless Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks

 A distributed connection of nodes that

coordinate to perform a common task.
 In many applications, the nodes are battery
powered and it is often very difficult to recharge
or change the batteries.
 Prolonging network lifetime is a critical issue.
 Sensors often have long period between
transmissions (e.g., in seconds).
 Thus, a good WSN MAC protocol needs to be
energy efficient.

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WSN Applications

 Environmental/ Habitat Monitoring

 Scientific, ecological applications
 Non-intrusiveness
 Real-time, high spatial-temporal resolution
 Remote, hard-to-access areas
 Acoustic detection
 Seismic detection
 Surveillance and Tracking
 Military and disaster applications
 Reconnaissance and Perimeter control
 Structural monitoring (e.g., bridges)

 “Smart” Environments
 Precision Agriculture
 Manufacturing/Industrial processes
 Inventory (RFID)
 Process Control
 Smart Grid
 Medical Applications
 Hospital/Clinic settings
 Retirement/Assisted Living settings

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Environment Monitoring
 Great Duck Island
 150 sensing nodes deployed throughout the
island relay data temperature, pressure, and
humidity to a central device.
 Data was made available on the Internet through
a satellite link.

Wireless Sensor Networks

 Another attribute is scalability and adaptability

to change in network size, node density and
topology.
 In general, nodes can die, join later or be mobile.
 Often high bandwidth is not important.
 Nodes can take advantage of short-range, multi-
hop communication to conserve energy.

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 Sources of energy waste:

 Idle listening, collisions, overhearing and control
overhead and overmitting.
 Idle listening dominates (measurements show idle
listening consumes between 50-100% of the energy
required for receiving.)
 Idle listening:: listen to receive possible traffic
that is not sent.
 Overmitting:: transmission of message when
receiver is not ready.

WSN Communication Patterns

 Broadcast:: e.g., Base station transmits to all

sensor nodes in WSN.
 Multicast:: sensor transmit to a subset of sensors
(e.g. cluster head to cluster nodes)
 Convergecast:: when a group of sensors
communicate to one sensor (BS, cluster head, or
data fusion center).
 Local Gossip:: sensor sends message to neighbor
sensors.

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Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)

 Multiple sensors (often hundreds or thousands) form a
network to cooperatively monitor large or complex
physical environments
 Acquired information is wirelessly communicated to a
base station (BS), which propagates the information to
remote devices for
storage, analysis, and processing

Networked vs. Individual Sensors

 Extended range of sensing:
 Cover a wider area of operation
 Redundancy:
 Multiple nodes close to each other increase fault
tolerance
 Improved accuracy:
 Sensor nodes collaborate and combine their data to
increase the accuracy of sensed data
 Extended functionality:
 Sensor nodes can not only perform sensing
functionality, but also provide forwarding service.

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 Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are nowadays

being deployed in a large number of application
domains
 military environments and perimeter sensing
weather and ambient control
 industrial applications
 power grids
 health care
 Security – Harvesting – Cognitive Network

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WSN Communication
 Characteristics of typical WSN:
 Low data rates (comparable to dial-up modems)
 Energy-constrained sensors
 IEEE 802.11 family of standards
 Most widely used WLAN protocols for wireless
communications in general
 Can be found in early sensor networks or sensors networks
without stringent energy constraints
 IEEE 802.15.4 is an example for a protocol that has
been designed specifically for short-range
communications in WSNs
 Low data rates
 Low power consumption
 Widely used in academic and commercial WSN solutions

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Single-Hop vs. Multi-Hop

 Star topology
 Every sensor communicates directly (single-hop) with the base station
 May require large transmit powers and may be infeasible in large
geographic areas
 Mesh topology
 Sensors serve as relays (forwarders) for other sensor nodes (multihop)
 May reduce power consumption and allows for larger coverage
 Introduces the problem of routing

Challenges in WSNs: Energy

 Sensors typically powered through batteries

 replace battery when depleted
 recharge battery, e.g., using solar power
 discard sensor node when battery depleted
 For batteries that cannot be recharged, sensor node should
be able to operate during its entire mission time or until
battery can be replaced
 Energy efficiency is affected by various aspects of sensor
node/network design
 Physical layer:
 switching and leakage energy of CMOS-based processors

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Challenges in WSNs: Energy

 Medium access control layer:
 contention-based strategies lead to energy-costly collisions
 problem of idle listening
 Network layer:
 responsible for finding energy-efficient routes
 Operating system:
 small memory footprint and efficient task switching
 Security:
 fast and simple algorithms for encryption, authentication,
etc.
 Middleware:
 in-network processing of sensor data can eliminate
redundant data or aggregate sensor readings

Challenges in WSNs: Self-Management

 Ad-hoc deployment
 many sensor networks are deployed “without design”
 sensors dropped from airplanes (battlefield assessment)
 sensors placed wherever currently needed (tracking patients
in disaster zone)
 moving sensors (robot teams exploring unknown terrain)
 sensor node must have some or all of the following
abilities
 determine its location
 determine identity of neighboring nodes
 configure node parameters
 discover route(s) to base station
 initiate sensing responsibility

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Challenges in WSNs: Self-Management

 Unattended operation
 Once deployed, WSN must operate without human intervention
 Device adapts to changes in topology, density, and traffic load
 Device adapts in response to failures
 Other terminology
 Self-organization is the ability to adapt configuration
parameters based on system and environmental state
 Self-optimization is the ability to monitor and optimize the use
of the limited system resources
 Self-protection is the ability recognize and protect from
intrusions and attacks
 Self-healing is the ability to discover, identify, and react to
network disruptions

Challenges in WSNs: Wireless Networks

 Wireless communication faces a variety of

challenges
 Attenuation:
 limits radio range
 Multi-hop communication:
 increased latency
 increased failure/error probability
 complicated by use of duty cycles

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Challenges in WSNs: Decentralization

 Centralized management (e.g., at the base station) of the
network often not feasible to due large scale of network and
energy constraints
 Therefore, decentralized (or distributed) solutions often
preferred, though they may perform worse than their
centralized counterparts
 Example: routing
 Centralized:
 BS collects information from all sensor nodes
 BS establishes “optimal” routes (e.g., in terms of energy)
 BS informs all sensor nodes of routes
 Can be expensive, especially when the topology changes frequently
 Decentralized:
 Each sensors makes routing decisions based on limited local
information
 Routes may be nonoptimal, but route establishment/management
can be much cheaper

WSN Characteristics

 Limited power they can harvest or store

 Ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions
 Ability to cope with node failures
 Mobility of nodes
 Dynamic network topology
 Communication failures
 Heterogeneity of nodes
 Large scale of deployment
 Unattended operation
 Nodes are scalable, only limited by bandwidth of
gateway node

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Typical Multiple WSN Architecture

 A sensor network normally constitutes a wireless
ad-hoc network, and each sensor supports a
multi-hop routing algorithm where nodes
function as forwarders, relaying data packets to a
base station.

WSN Topologies

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Sensor Network System

Multiple Sensor Networks System

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WSN System Platforms

Wireless Sensor Network Standards

IEEE 802.15.4 & ZigBee

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Sensor Data Management

 Observer interested in phenomena
with certain tolerance
 Accuracy, freshness, delay
 Sensors sample the phenomena
 Sensor Data Management
 Determining spatio-temporal
sampling schedule
 Difficult to determine locally
 Data aggregation
 Interaction with routing
 Network/Resource limitations
 Congestion management
 Load balancing
 QoS/Realtime scheduling

Definition: Autonomous Systems

 An Autonomous System (AS) is a collection of

routers whose prefixes and routing policies are
under common administrative control. This
could be a network service provider, a large
company, a university, a division of a company,
or a group of companies

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 Sensors and actuators are Bridges Between Real

and Digital Worlds

Sensor networks

 A sensor network (SN) consists of multiple

interconnected sensors or motes
 Combine sensing, communication and
computation into a complete architecture
 Possible by advances in low power wireless communication
technology
 MEMS brings a rich array of cheap, tiny sensors


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Sensor nodes

 Processor in various modes (sleep,

idle, active)
 Power source (AA or Coin batteries,
Solar
Panels)
 Memory used for the program code
and for inmemory buffering
 Radio used for transmitting the
acquired data
to some storage site
 Sensors for temperature, humidity,
light, etc

Sensor nodes

 A sensor node, also called a mote, is a WSN

node that is capable of performing some
processing, gathering sensory information and
communicating with other connected nodes in
the WSN

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Wireless sensor networks

 A self-configuring network of small sensor

nodes communicating among themselves
using radio signals, and deployed in
quantity to sense,
monitor and understand the physical world.
 Coordinate to perform a common task.
 Prolonging network lifetime is a critical
issue.
 Sensors often have long period between
transmissions (e.g., in seconds).

Wireless communication

 The two wireless standards used by WSN

are 802.15.4 and Zigbee
 They are low-power protocols
 Performance is an issue
 Max distance is around 100 m

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Wireless sensor networks

 Another attribute is scalability and adaptability

to change in network size, node density and
topology.
 In general, nodes can die, join later or be mobile.
 Often high bandwidth is not important.
 Nodes can take advantage of short-range, multi-
hop communication to conserve energy

Wireless sensor (and actuator) Networks

 The networks typically run Low Power Devices

 Consist of one or more sensors, could be
different type of sensors (or actuators)


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 A good WSN MAC protocol needs to be energy

efficient.
 Sources of energy waste:
 Idle listening, collisions, overhearing and control overhead
and overmitting.
 Idle listening dominates (measurements show idle
listening consumes between 50-100% of the energy
required for receiving.)
 Idle listening
 Listen to receive possible traffic that is not sent.
 Overmitting
 Transmission of message when receiver is not ready

Wireless Sensor Networks Characteristics

 Limited power they can harvest or store

 Ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions
 Ability to cope with node failures
 Mobility of nodes
 Dynamic network topology
 Communication failures
 Heterogeneity of nodes
 Large scale of deployment
 Unattended operation
 Nodes are scalable, only limited by
bandwidth of gateway node

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Typical WSN Architecture

 A sensor network normally constitutes a wireless
ad-hoc network, and each sensor supports a
multi-hop routing algorithm where nodes
function as forwarders, relaying data packets to a
base station


WSN Communication Patterns

 Broadcast
 Base station transmits to all sensor nodes in WSN.
 Multicast
 Sensor transmit to a subset of sensors (e.g. cluster head to
cluster nodes)
 ConvergeCast
 Data is collected from outlying nodes through a direct
spanning tree to the root (BS, cluster head, or data fusion
center).
 Local Gossip
 Sensor sends message to neighbor sensors.

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Wireless sensor networks

 Central approach:
 Lower the duty cycle by turning the radio off part of the
time.
 Duty cycle is the ratio between listen time and the full
listen sleep cycle
 Three techniques to reduce the duty cycle:
 TDMA
 Scheduled contention periods
 LPL (Low Power Listening)


Techniques to Reduce Idle Listening

 TDMA requires cluster-based or centralized control.

 Scheduling – ensures short listen period when
transmitters and listeners can rendezvous and other
periods where nodes sleep (turn off their radios).
 LPL – nodes wake up briefly to check for channel
activity without receiving data.
 If channel is idle, node goes back to sleep.
 If channel is busy, node stays awake to receive data.
 A long preamble (longer than poll period) is used to
assure than preamble intersects with polls.

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WSN Topologies

General Features of Sensor Node

 Small Size
 From few mms to few inches
 Limited processing and communication
 Mhz clock, MB flash, KB RAM, 100’s Kbps bandwidth
(wireless)
 Limited power
 MICA: 7-10 days at full blast
 Failure prone nodes and links
 Due to deployment, fabrication, wireless medium, …
 Easy to manufacture
 Needs to offset this with scalable and fault-tolerant
OS’es and protocols

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Power aware MAC Protocols

 Three approaches to saving power:

 TDMA: TRAMA, EMACs, L-MAC
 Schedule: PAMAS, S-MAC, T-MAC, D-MAC,
PMAC, SCP MAC, Crankshaft, AS-MAC
 Low Power Listening: LPL, B-MAC, WiseMAC, X-
MAC
 Newest approaches include
 Receiver Initiated: RI-MAC, A-MAC, LPP

Sensor-MAC (S-MAC)

 All nodes periodically listen, sleep and wakeup.

Nodes listen and send during the active period and
turn off their radios during the sleep period.
 The beginning of the active period is a SYNC period
used to accomplish periodic synchronization and
remedy clock drift {nodes broadcast SYNC frames}.
 Following the SYNC period, data may be transferred
for the remainder of the fixed-length active period
using RTS/CTS for unicast transmissions.

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Sensor MAC (S-MAC)

 Long frames are fragmented and transmitted as a

burst.
 SMAC controls the duty cycle by trading off
energy for delay.
 However, as density of WSN grows, SMAC
incurs additional overhead in maintaining
neighbors’ schedules


Required Mechanism

 Multi-hop wireless communications

 Communication over long distances can require intermediary
nodes as relay (instead of using high transmission power for
long range communications).
 Energy-efficient operation
 To support long lifetime
 Energy efficient communication/dissemination of information
 Energy efficient determination of a requested information
 Auto-configuration
 Self-xxx functionalities
 Tolerating node failures
 Integrating new nodes

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Required Mechanisms
 Collaboration and in-network processing
 In some applications a single sensor node is not able to
handle the given task or provide the requested information.
 Instead of sending the information form various source to
an external network/node, the information can be
processed in the network itself.
 e.g. data aggregation, summarisation and then propagating the processed data
with reduced size (hence improving energy efficiency by reducing the amount of
data to be transmitted).
 Data-centric
 Conventional networks often focus on sending data
between two specific nodes each equipped with an
address.
 Here what is important is data and the observations and
measurements not the node that provides it

IoT Cloud Solutions

 IoT Hub from Microsoft

 AWS IoT
 PubNub
 Initial State
 SmartThings, Thingsee

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IoT Hub

AWS IoT Data Services

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WSN Applications

 Environmental/ Habitat Monitoring

 Scientific, ecological applications
 Non-intrusiveness
 Real-time, high spatial-temporal resolution
 Remote, hard-to-access areas
 Acoustic detection
 Seismic detection
 Surveillance and Tracking
 Military and disaster applications
 Reconnaissance and Perimeter control
 Structural monitoring (e.g., bridges)

 “Smart” Environments
 Precision Agriculture
 Manufacturing/Industrial processes
 Inventory (RFID)
 Process Control
 Smart Grid
 Medical Applications
 Hospital/Clinic settings
 Retirement/Assisted Living settings

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