Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are information networks that collect, process, and communicate sensed information from surroundings. They are implemented with a set of sensor nodes connected through wireless or wired connections. These networks are application-centric, therefore, these networks are designed to accomplish a specific goal. for example, a sensor network is deployed to the agricultural land to sense the moisture and temperature of the soil. Here, the sensor nodes are deployed under the soil and collect the data either after a specific time interval or a change in the current reading. The collected information is passed to a communication unit, which communicates the reading to a base station. The base station has various software applications, which utilize these sensor readings to make decisions to regulate the water supply valves.
The sensors, which are developed with the wireless communication ability are always placed in critical situations. Therefore, once these sensors are placed then it is not retrieved. Additionally, these sensor nodes have a limited amount of energy. Therefore, these sensor nodes are highly constrained to energy or battery life. On the other hand, the network with the wireless communication unit is also implemented in mobile nodes such as robots, motor vehicles, monitoring systems, etc. However, there are WSN applications also available, which are utilizing the wired network infrastructure. These networks have additional sources of energy and are repairable and maintainable after some time. In this context, the architecture and components of WSN vary according to the application and deployment environment.
Now in these days, many applications are being developed using sensor networks. Some essential applications are:
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Military Applications:
The sensor nodes which are very small in size would be capable of accomplishing spying activities. In addition, WSNs are capable of supporting various operations. The military applications of battlefield surveillance, combat monitoring, and intruder detection, are most common.
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Health Applications:
The WSNs utilize advanced medical sensors to monitor patients, in a hospital or their home. It provides real-time monitoring of patients by using wearable hardware. The health applications of WSNs are mostly based on patient wearable monitoring, home assisting systems, and hospital patient monitoring.
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Environmental Applications:
It demands continuous monitoring of conditions in hostile and remote areas. The WSNs are used for supporting different other applications such as water monitoring, air monitoring, and emergency alerting.
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Industrial Applications:
It can be applied in various industrial applications to solve many problems. Logistics, robotics, and machinery monitoring are the main uses of the sensor networks.