Addis Abeba Science and Technology

University

College of Mechanical and Electrical

Engineering

Electro-Mechanical engineering

Wireless Sensor Network for

robotics
Introduction
 Definition and background
Sensing is a technique used to gather information about a physical object or
process, including the occurrence of events (i.e., changes in state such as a
drop in temperature or pressure). An object performing such a sensing task is
called a sensor.
For example, the human body is equipped with sensors that are able to
capture optical information from the environment (eyes), acoustic
information such as sounds (ears), and smells (nose).  examples of remote
sensors (they do not need to touch the monitored object to gather
information)
From a technical perspective, a sensor is a device that translates parameters
or events in the physical world into signals that can be measured and
analyzed.
 Definition and background
Transducer, which is often used to describe a device that converts energy from one
form into another. A sensor, then, is a type of transducer that converts energy in
the physical world into electrical energy that can be passed to a computing system
or controller.
Phenomena in the physical world (often referred to as process, system, or plant)
are observed by a sensor device. The resulting electrical signals are often not ready
for immediate processing, therefore they pass through a signal conditioning stage.
Here, a variety of operations can be applied to the sensor signal to prepare it for
further use.
signals often require amplification (or attenuation) to change the signal magnitude
to better match the range of the following analog-to-digital conversion.
signal conditioning often applies filters to the signal to remove unwanted noise
within certain frequency ranges (e.g., highpass filters can be used to remove 50 or
60 Hz noise picked up by surrounding power lines).
After conditioning, the analog signal is transformed into a digital signal using an
analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The signal is now available in a digital form and
ready for further processing, storing, or visualization.
 Definition and background
Many wireless sensor networks also include actuators which allow them to
directly control the physical world. For example, an actuator can be a valve
controlling the flow of hot water, a motor that opens or closes a door or
window, or a pump that controls the amount of fuel injected into an engine.
Such a wireless sensor and actuator network (WSAN) takes commands from
the processing device (controller) and transforms these commands into input
signals for the actuator, which then interacts with a physical process, thereby
forming a closed control loop
 Sensor classification
If the sensors require external power, they are referred to as active sensors.
That is, they must emit some kind of energy (e.g., microwaves, light, sound)
to trigger a response or to detect a change in the energy of the transmitted
signal.
On the other hand, passive sensors detect energy in the environment and
derive their power from this energy input – for example, passive infrared
(PIR) sensors measure infrared light radiating from objects in the proximity.
 Background of sensor network technology
WSN: is an exciting emerging domain of deeply networked systems of low-
power wireless motes with a tiny amount of CPU and memory, and large
federated networks for high-resolution sensing of the environment
Sensors in a WSN have a variety of purposes, functions, and capabilities.
Examples of early-deployment sensor networks are:
The radar networks used in air traffic control,
the national electrical power grid,
and nationwide weather stations deployed over a regular topographic mesh
All the above applications use specialized computers and communication
protocols and consequently, are very expensive
Much less expensive WSNs are now being planned for novel applications in
physical security, health care, and commerce.
 WSN
Wireless sensor has not only a sensing component, but also on-board
processing, communication, and storage capabilities. With these
enhancements, a sensor node is often not only responsible for data
collection, but also for in-network analysis, correlation, and fusion of its own
sensor data and data from other sensor nodes. When many sensors
cooperatively monitor large physical environments, they form a wireless
sensor
• There are four basic components in a sensor network:
(1) an assembly of distributed or localized sensors;
(2) an interconnecting network (usually, but not always, wireless-based);
(3) a central point of information clustering; and
(4) a set of computing resources at the central point (or beyond) to handle data
correlation, event trending, status querying, and data mining.
 Background of sensor network technology
The opening of new door to a new generation of low-cost sensors and
actuators that are capable of achieving high-grade spatial and temporal
resolution are:
The near-ubiquity of the Internet,
the advancements in wireless and wireline communications technologies,
the network build-out (particularly in the wireless case),
the developments in IT (such as high-power processors, large random-access memory
chips, digital signal processing, and grid computing),
 WSN
Sensor nodes communicate not only with each other but also with a base
station (BS) using their wireless radios, allowing them to disseminate their
sensor data to remote processing, visualization, analysis, and storage
systems. For example, the figure below shows two sensor fields monitoring
two different geographic regions and connecting to the Internet using their
base stations
 WSN
Sensor networking is a multidisciplinary area that involves, among others,
radio and networking,
signal processing,
artificial intelligence,
database management,
systems architectures for operator-friendly infrastructure administration,
resource optimization,
power management algorithms,
and platform technology (hardware and software, such as operating systems)
 WSN
Power efficiency in WSNs is generally accomplished in three ways:
1. Low-duty-cycle operation.
2. Local/in-network processing to reduce data volume (and hence
transmission time).
3. Multihop networking reduces the requirement for long-range transmission
since signal path loss is an inverse exponent with range or distance. Each
node in the sensor network can act as a repeater, thereby reducing the link
range coverage required and, in turn, the transmission power.
 History of WSN

Reading Assignment!!!
 Communication in WSN
The well-known IEEE 802.11 family of standards was introduced in 1997 and is the
most common wireless networking technology for mobile systems.
The 2.4-GHz band is used by IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g, while the IEEE 802.11a
protocol uses the 5-GHz frequency band. IEEE 802.11 was frequently used in early
wireless sensor networks and can still be found in current networks when
bandwidth demands are high (e.g., for multimedia sensors). However, the high-
energy overheads of IEEE 802.11-based networks makes this standard unsuitable
for low-power sensor networks.
Typical data rate requirements in sensor networks are comparable to the
bandwidths provided by dial-up modems, therefore the data rates provided by IEEE
802.11 are typically much higher than needed.
This has led to the development of a variety of protocols that better satisfy the
networks’ need for low power consumption and low data rates. For example, the
IEEE 802.15.4 protocol has been designed specifically for short range
communications in low-power sensor networks and is supported by most academic
and commercial sensor nodes.
 Communication in WSN
When the transmission ranges of the radios of all sensor nodes are large
enough and the sensors can transmit their data directly to the base station,
they can form a star topology as shown in Figure. In this topology, each
sensor node communicates directly with the base station using a single hop.
However, sensor networks often cover large geographic areas and radio
transmission power should be kept at a minimum in order to conserve
energy;
 Communication in WSN
multi-hop communication is the more common case for sensor networks
(shown in Figure). In this mesh topology, sensor nodes must not only capture
and disseminate their own data, but also serve as relays for other sensor
nodes, that is, they must collaborate to propagate sensor data towards the
base station. This routing problem, that is, the task of finding a multi-hop
path from a sensor node to the base station, is one of the most important
challenges and has received immense attention from the research
community.
 When a node serves as a relay for multiple
routes, it often has the opportunity to analyze
and pre-process sensor data in the network,
which can lead to the elimination of redundant
information or aggregation of data that may be
smaller than the original data.
Challenges and Constraints
 Energy
sensor nodes operate with limited energy budgets. Typically, they are
powered through batteries, which must be either replaced or recharged (e.g.,
using solar power) when depleted. For some nodes, neither option is
appropriate, that is, they will simply be discarded once their energy source is
depleted. Whether the battery can be recharged or not significantly affects
the strategy applied to energy consumption. For non rechargeable batteries,
a sensor node should be able to operate until either its mission time has
passed or the battery can be replaced. The length of the mission time
depends on the type of application, for example, scientists monitoring glacial
movements may need sensors that can operate for several years while a
sensor in a battlefield scenario may only be needed for a few hours or days.
 Energy
The choices made at the physical layer of a sensor node affect the energy
consumption of the entire device and the design of higher-level protocols.
The energy consumption of CMOS-based processors is primarily due to
switching energy and leakage energy.

where Ctotal is the total capacitance switched by the computation, Vdd is the
supply voltage, Ileak is the leakage current, and t is the duration of the
computation. Some techniques to control leakage energy include progressive
shutdown of idle components and software-based techniques such as
Dynamic Voltage Scaling (DVS).
 Energy
The medium access control (MAC) layer is responsible for providing sensor
nodes with access to the wireless channel. Some MAC strategies for
communication networks are contention-based, that is, nodes may attempt
to access the medium at any time, potentially leading to collisions among
multiple nodes, which must be addressed by the MAC layer to ensure that
transmissions will eventually succeed.
Downsides of these approaches include the energy overheads and delays
incurred by the collisions and recovery mechanisms and that sensor nodes
may have to listen to the medium at all times to ensure that no transmissions
will be missed.
Therefore, some MAC protocols for sensor networks are contention-free, that
is, access to the medium is strictly regulated, eliminating collisions and
allowing sensor nodes to shut down their radios when no communications
are expected.
 Energy
The network layer is responsible for finding routes from a sensor node to the
base station and route characteristics such as length (e.g., in terms of number
of hops), required transmission power, and available energy on relay nodes
determine the energy overheads of multi-hop communication.
For example, in-network processing is frequently used to eliminate
redundant sensor data or to aggregate multiple sensor readings. This leads to
a tradeoff between computation (processing the sensor data) and
communication (transmitting the original versus the processed data), which
can often be exploited to obtain energy savings
 Self-management
It is the nature of many sensor network applications that they must operate in remote
areas and harsh environments, without infrastructure support or the possibility for
maintenance and repair. Therefore, sensor nodes must be self-managing in that they
configure themselves, operate and collaborate with other nodes, and adapt to failures,
changes in the environment, and changes in the environmental stimuli without human
intervention.
Ad Hoc Deployment: Many wireless sensor network applications do not require
predetermined and engineered locations of individual sensor nodes. This is particularly
important for networks being deployed in remote or inaccessible areas. For example,
sensors serving the assessment of battlefield or disaster areas could be thrown from
airplanes over the areas of interest, but many sensor nodes may not survive such a drop and
may never be able to begin their sensing activities. However, the surviving nodes must
autonomously perform a variety of setup and configuration steps, including the
establishment of communications with neighboring sensor nodes, determining their
positions, and the initiation of their sensing responsibilities. The mode of operation of
sensor nodes can differ based on such information, for example, a node’s location and the
number or identities of its neighbors may determine the amount and type of information it
will generate and forward on behalf of other nodes.
 Self-management
Unattended Operation: Many sensor networks, once deployed, must operate
without human intervention, that is, configuration, adaptation, maintenance,
and repair must be performed in an autonomous fashion. For example, sensor
nodes are exposed to both system dynamics and environmental dynamics,
which pose a significant challenge for building reliable sensor networks. A self-
managing device will monitor its surroundings, adapt to changes in the
environment, and cooperate with neighboring devices to form topologies or
agree on sensing, processing, and communication strategies. Self-organization
is the term frequently used to describe a network’s ability to adapt
configuration parameters based on system and environmental state. For
example, a sensor device can choose its transmission power to maintain a
certain degree of connectivity (i.e., with increasing transmission power it is
more likely that a node will reach more neighbors). Self-optimization refers to a
device’s ability to monitor and optimize the use of its own system resources.
Self-protection allows a device to recognize and protect itself from intrusions
and attacks.
 Wireless networking
The attenuation limits the range of radio signals, that is, a radio frequency
(RF) signal fades (i.e., decreases in power) while it propagates through a
medium and while it passes through obstacles. The relationship between the
received power and transmitted power of an RF signal can be expressed using
the inverse-square law:

As a consequence, an increasing distance between a sensor node and a base

station rapidly increases the required transmission power. Therefore, it is
more energy-efficient to split a large distance into several shorter distances,
leading to the challenge of supporting multi-hop communications and
routing. Multi-hop communication requires that nodes in a network
cooperate with each other to identify efficient routes and to serve as relays.
 Wireless networking
Many sensor nodes use a power conservation policy where radios are
switched off when they are not in use. As a consequence, during these down-
times, the sensor node cannot receive messages from its neighbors nor can it
serve as a relay for other sensors. Therefore, some networks rely on wakeup
on demand strategies to ensure that nodes can be woken up whenever
needed.
 Decentralized Management:
The large scale and the energy constraints of many wireless sensor networks make
it infeasible to rely on centralized algorithms (e.g., executed at the base station) to
implement network management solutions such as topology management or
routing. Instead, sensor nodes must collaborate with their neighbors to make
localized decisions, that is, without global knowledge. As a consequence, the results
of these decentralized (or distributed ) algorithms will not be optimal, but they may
be more energy-efficient than centralized solutions.
Consider routing as an example for centralized and decentralized solutions. A base
station can collect information from all sensor nodes, establish routes that are
optimal (e.g., in terms of energy), and inform each node of its route. However, the
overhead can be significant, particularly if the topology changes frequently. Instead,
a decentralized approach allows each node to make routing decisions based on
limited local information (e.g., a list of the node’s neighbors, including their
distances to the base station). While this decentralized approach may lead to
nonoptimal routes, the management overheads can be reduced significantly.
 Design Constraints
Driven by the need to execute dedicated applications with little energy
consumption, typical sensor nodes have the processing speeds and storage
capacities of computer systems from several decades ago. The need for small
form factor and low energy consumption also prohibits the integration of
many desirable components, such as GPS receivers. These constraints and
requirements also impact the software design at various levels, for example,
operating systems must have small memory footprints and must be efficient
in their resource management tasks.
However, the lack of advanced hardware features (e.g., support for parallel
executions) facilitates the design of small and efficient operating systems. A
sensor’s hardware constraints also affect the design of many protocols and
algorithms executed in a WSN. For example, routing tables that contain
entries for each potential destination in a network may be too large to fit into
a sensor’s memory. Instead, only a small amount of data (such as a list of
neighbors) can be stored in a sensor node’s memory.
 Security
Many wireless sensor networks collect sensitive information. The remote and
unattended operation of sensor nodes increases their exposure to malicious
intrusions and attacks. Further, wireless communications make it easy for an
adversary to eavesdrop on sensor transmissions.
For example, one of the most challenging security threats is a denial-of-service
attack, whose goal is to disrupt the correct operation of a sensor network. This can
be achieved using a variety of attacks, including a jamming attack , where high-
powered wireless signals are used to prevent successful sensor communications.
The consequences can be severe and depend on the type of sensor network
application. While there are numerous techniques and solutions for distributed
systems that prevent attacks or contain the extent and damage of such attacks,
many of these incur significant computational, communication, and storage
requirements, which often cannot be satisfied by resource-constrained sensor
nodes. As a consequence, sensor networks require new solutions for key
establishment and distribution, node authentication, and secrecy.
 Other Challenges
A variety of additional challenges can affect the design of sensor nodes and
wireless sensor networks. For example, some sensors may be mounted onto
moving objects, such as vehicles or robots, leading to continuously changing
network topologies that require frequent adaptations at multiple layers of a
system, including routing (e.g., changing neighbor lists), medium access control
(e.g., changing density), and data aggregation (e.g., changing overlapping sensing
regions). A heterogeneous sensor network consists of devices with varying
hardware capabilities, for example, sensor nodes may have more hardware
resources if their sensing tasks require more computation and storage or if they are
responsible for collecting and processing data from other sensors within the
network.
Also, some sensor applications may have specific performance and quality
requirements, for example, low latencies for critical sensor events or high
throughput for data collected by video sensors. Both heterogeneity and
performance requirements affect the design of wireless sensors and their
protocols.
Other Challenges
 WN standards
In the early 2000s, sensor device suppliers were researching ways of
introducing standardization. WNs typically transmit small volumes of simple
data (e.g., ‘‘Is the temperature at the set level or lower?’’).
 For within-building applications, designers ruled out Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity,
IEEE 802.11b) standards for sensors as being too complex and supporting
more bandwidth than is actually needed for typical sensors
Infrared systems require line of sight, which is not always achievable;
Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1) technology was at first considered a possibility, but
it was soon deemed too complex and expensive.
This opened the door for a new standard IEEE 802.15.4 along with ZigBee
(more specifically, ZigBee comprises the software layers above the newly
adopted IEEE 802.15.4 standard and supports a plethora of applications).
 WN standards
C2WSNs have lower layers of the communication protocol stack (Physical and
Media Access Control), which are comparable to that of a personal area
network (PAN), defined in the recently developed IEEE 802.15 standard:
hence, the utilization of these IEEE standards for C2WSNs. IEEE 802.15.4
operates in the 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) radio band
and supports data transmission at rates up to 250 kbps at ranges from 30 to
200 ft.
ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 is designed to complement wireless technologies such
as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and ultrawideband (UWB), and is targeted at commercial
point-to-point sensing applications where cabled connections are not
possible and where ultralow power and low cost are requirements
Application of WSN
Military Applications
 Military Applications
To detect intrusion, WSNs may use infrared, photoelectric, laser, acoustic,
and vibration sensors.
Similarly, RAdio Detection And Ranging (RADAR), LIght Detection And
Ranging (LIDAR), LAser Detection And Ranging (LADAR) and ultrasonic sensors
are used by nodes in WSNs in order to detect thedistance from objects of
interest. Likewise, LADAR and infrared sensors are used for imaging purposes
Battlefield Surveillance: the sensor nodes of the WSN may be deployed on a
battlefield nearby of the paths that enemy forces may use. The main advantage
provided is that the WSN not only can be spontaneously positioned but also
can function, without need for continuous attendance and maintenance.
The system aims to detect and categorize various targets, such as vehicles
and troop movements, based on the spatial dierences of the signal strength
detected by the sensors
 Military Applications
Combat Monitoring: Within a battlefield the firing of guns, mortars artillery,
and other weaponry creates sound, heat, and vibrations. This information can
be recorded with the use of WSNs and provides an expectation of the location
of the enemy.
In the use of acoustic sensor arrays suspended below tethered aerostats to
detect and localize moving vehicles, transient signals from mortars, artillery,
small arms fire, and locate their source is presented.
Intruder Detection: the knowledge of the location of the enemy is considered
to be one of the most critical pieces of information during military operations.
Whichever side in a conflict has this knowledge is one step ahead and closer to
victory. With the utilization of WSNs within a battlefield, intruders can be
detected in good time to prevent loss of supplies or territory.
 Military Applications
system that can recognize intruders by utilizing Unattended Acoustic and
Seismic Sensors to record vibrations and sounds of typical soldier actions. To
detect an intruder, with the aid of these sensors, typical military activities,
such as equipment handling, walking, rifle loading, etc., have been measured
and recorded in a controlled environment and in the field. Although the
distance of detection may be small, the information provided by the network
can be used to locate an intruder in dicult terrains with large vegetation
where visibility is limited.
Health Applications
 Health Applications
In the health domain, WSNs utilize advanced medical sensors to monitor
patients within a healthcare facility, as a hospital or within their home, as well
as to provide real time monitoring of patient’s vitals by utilizing wearable
hardware.
PatientWearable Monitoring: health monitoring applications can be combined
with wearable hardware with embedded biomedical sensors that provide the
patient’s health status in a remote environment or within a healthcare facility.
It uses real time sensors incorporated in smart phones along with a barcode
system to provide personalized medicine care assistance. The mechanism
developed, performs Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring in real time. Also,
the monitoring of the blood glucose level, blood pressure, and several kinds
of diagnostics could be possible too, by using real-time sensors.
 Health Applications
Home Assisting Systems: a homecare monitoring platform can monitor and
diagnose patients remotely, in real time in their home environment by the
utilization of wearable or even surgically inserted bio‐ sensors. A hybrid model
of the platform is proposed, with various levels in terms of functionality,
combining fixed and mobile nodes. These levels range from simple data
acquisition of the assisted person to primary care and emergency nodes upto
the communication and coordination with an appointed help center as a
hospital
 Health Applications
Hospital Patient Monitoring (or Hospitalization): Within healthcare facilities,
such as a hospital, WSNs systems can be integrated to provide real time patient
monitoring and emergency alerting for a more precise and quick response.
Wireless sensors are placed within the emergency rooms of John Hopkins
hospital to monitor in real time the blood oxygen and heart rate of the
patients. The application of WSNs can improve the operation of a healthcare
facility.
Environmental Applications
 Environmental Applications
Environmental applications that demand continuous monitoring of ambient
conditions at hostile and remote areas can be improved with the utilization of
WSNs.
Water Monitoring: Water, either for drinking or oceanic is an important factor
in human lives, therefore the monitoring of water has a great academic interest
for researchers as described below. A WSN application to evaluate the quality
of fresh drinkable water. They designed a Cyber physical system (CPS) called
PipeSense, which is an in-pipe system for water monitoring that utilizes RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification) based WSN. The network can provide
information about water demand or water quality and various repair
information such as weak spots or pipe leakage. The in-pipe RFID sensors
collect information from the system and send them to the data servers, where
algorithms provide decision support.
 Environmental Applications
Air Monitoring: Air is a vital element for human lives and nowadays the air
pollution of the atmosphere is a result of many modern human activities.
WSNs can be utilized for air quality monitoring in occupied regions in order to
prevent dangerous diseases and contaminations or risk the health of people. A
characteristic example of an application of this kind is presented in, where an
air quality monitoring application assisted by WSNs, called WSN-AQMS, is
proposed. The specific system combines gas sensors along with Libelium
waspmotes to measure air quality parameters of gases such as ozone, CO, and
NO2. The waspmotes monitor in real time the air quality and utilize the Zigbee
protocol for data communication.
 Environmental Applications
Emergency Alerting: Proactive monitoring of the causes of natural disasters,
can help to avoid these disasters or/and lower their cost. WSNs can be utilized
for monitoring common disastrous causes in real time to provide proactive
alerts in order to lower damage or even prevent disaster. Typical examples
described in the rest of this subsection, are related to the monitoring of
seismic activity, volcanic activity, forest fires, and tsunamis.
Seismic Activity Monitoring: Earthquakes can cause enormous damage to an
occupied region where they take place. WSNs can be utilized to monitor
seismic activity in real time in order to take precautionary measures and
enable the authorities to act in advance. A real time seismic activity
monitoring system is presented. A warning system for earthquakes in order to
increase the time before an earthquake so as to take precaution measures.
 Environmental Applications
Volcanic Activity Monitoring: Volcanoes can cause enormous damage to
nearby towns or cities when they are activated. Before a volcano erupts,
there are many signs that a WSN system can measure, proactively, in order to
inform nearby citizens about the eruption. When such a system is applied,
citizens can protect their families and belongings by transporting them
outside of the area of the eruption, preventing further damage.
Forest Fire Prevention: Forest fires can destroy both animals and vegetation,
thus resulting in huge ecological disasters. In order to prevent such disastrous
events WSNs can be deployed within forests and monitor in real time related
parameters in order to assist in forest fire prevention.
Tsunami Detection: natural disaster is the tsunami waves. It is crucial for
coastal regions to be informed early of such a catastrophe. WSN can be utilize
for real time monitoring enabling the authorities to act proactively.
Flora and Fauna Applications
 Flora and Fauna Applications
Greenhouse Monitoring: Within them many crops can be grown to provide
sustainable food while climate crops can be harvested all year round if certain
conditions are applied within the greenhouse. Therefore, WSNs can be applied
in greenhouse monitoring and control to improve their operation.
Crop Monitoring: Within the agricultural domain, the preservation of the crops
plays a vital role. In order to provide a better environment for crops various
WSN applications that have been designed.
Livestock Farming: a sensor‐based system developed to analyze the behavior
of livestock animals and support their farming
Industrial Applications
 Industrial Applications
Logistics: the domain of logistics is an area of interest where WSNs can be
applied, because many systems need real time monitoring of various
environmental parameters and better handling of packages These
requirements can be fulfilled by combining the logistics systems with WSNs
Robotics: Robots can cooperate and combat some of the major problems of
WSNs, such as sensor node mobility, node redeployment, travelling salesman,
etc.
Machinery Health Monitoring: The objective of machinery health monitoring
is to examine the performance of various types of technical equipment and to
either detect or predict the occurrence of faults that are obstructive or even
catastrophic for their operation.
Urban Applications
 Urban Applications
Smart Cities: In large cities monitoring of various parameters is crucial for the
optimal life of the citizens. WSNs have a huge amount of applications to
provide real time data to the authorities for the optimal function of a city.
Specifically, increased transportation of people creates problems and time
wastage, when a large number of vehicles is heading towards common
destinations. WSNs can be utilized for monitoring in order to reduce traffic,
indicate car parking spots.
Smart Homes: Wireless sensor networks can be applied in the indoor
environment as in smart homes where machine to machine communications
take place. Two typical examples are the indoor localization and motion
monitoring and the monitoring of the indoor air quality.
 Urban Applications
Transportation Systems: The transportation of vehicles within the urban
environment is an important factor for the safety and proper function of public
roads. By utilizing WSNs can improve the safety of roads and provide
information during the use of sensors by drives.
Structural Health Monitoring: The aim of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)
in buildings and other types of civil engineering substructures, is to monitor
their integrity and to detect the existence and the extent of damages in the
materials or/and the structure of their bodies. The use of wireless sensors
facilitates the accomplishment of tasks of this kind both in a periodic basis and
after critical events (e.g., earthquakes).
specifications of WSNs per type of application
END!!!