ACM TechNews

Networks of the Future: Extending Our Senses Into the Physical World

Los Alamos National Laboratory News (08/13/08) Cannon, John C.

Los Alamos National Laboratory computer scientist Sami Ayyorgun is developing wireless sensor network technology that could lead to improvements in a variety of fields. Engineers could wirelessly monitor miles of gas and oil pipelines for ruptures, damage, and tampering; rescue workers could detect signs of life in a collapsed building; and armed forces could monitor a combat zone or international border with sensors that could alert soldiers to intrusions or illicit traffic. "It's not easy to envision the impacts that sensor networks will make, both socially and economically," Ayyorgun says. "Like many other researchers, I think they are likely to rival the impact that the Internet has made on our lives." Ayyorgun has developed a new communication scheme and has demonstrated that concurrent gains in many measures of performance are possible, including connectivity, energy, delay, throughput, system longevity, coverage, and security. Like cell phones, wireless sensor networks rely on small, independently powered devices, known as motes, to communicate. However, unlike cell phones, which relay their signal through a base station, multihop sensor motes relay their signal through each other, transmitting information through a series of hops from one mote to the next. By eliminating the need to build a mesh of base stations, wireless sensor networks can be tailored to unique circumstances and created for significantly lower costs.

http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_id/14183

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