A vision for wireless sensor networks

The convergence of wireless communications, embedded computing, and smart sensors enables us to have greater visibility into the natural world and our activities. These technologies are the foundation for wireless sensor networks. The growth and early successes of sensors networks show that it has the potential to be as useful as the Internet: just as the Internet allows us faster, easier accesses to data and information from the digital world, sensor networks expand our ability to access data from the physical world. This article presents a framework for hardware devices and software technology for sensor networks and particularly SmartDust MICA Motes. Depending upon the sensor function and bandwidth requirements, the hardware can be classified into four classes: application-specified sensor devices, general-purpose sensor nodes, high data-rate sensor nodes, and sensor network interfaces to LAN (gateways). In addition, a new software framework is essential for sensor networks. Traditional networking protocols do not provide the power-saving that facilitate battery powered operation. Furthermore, direct and efficient control of the hardware is required for each of the hardware classes. TinyOS is an operating system made for deeply embedded, highly distributed sensor works. A unified framework of hardware and software developing helps bring the age of pervasive computing and sensing to various applications.