Editing Wireless sensor network (section)

{{Short description|Group of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors}}
{{Redirect|WSN}}
'''Wireless sensor networks''' ('''WSNs''') refer to networks of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors that [[environmental monitoring|monitor]] and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data to a central location. WSNs can measure environmental conditions such as temperature, sound, pollution levels, humidity and wind.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ullo|first1=Silvia Liberata|last2=Sinha|first2=G. R.|date=2020-05-31|title=Advances in Smart Environment Monitoring Systems Using IoT and Sensors|journal=Sensors |volume=20|issue=11|page=3113|doi=10.3390/s20113113|issn=1424-8220|pmc=7309034|pmid=32486411|bibcode=2020Senso..20.3113U|doi-access=free}}</ref>

These are similar to [[wireless ad hoc network]]s in the sense that they rely on [[wireless connectivity]] and spontaneous formation of networks so that sensor data can be transported wirelessly. WSNs monitor physical conditions, such as [[temperature]], [[sound]], and [[pressure]]. Modern networks are bi-directional, both collecting data<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=FrancescoMario|first1=Di|last2=K|first2=DasSajal|last3=AnastasiGiuseppe|date=2011-08-01|title=Data Collection in Wireless Sensor Networks with Mobile Elements|journal=ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks |volume=8|pages=1–31|language=EN|doi=10.1145/1993042.1993049|s2cid=15576441}}</ref> and enabling control of sensor activity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Xia|first1=Feng|last2=Tian|first2=Yu-Chu|last3=Li|first3=Yanjun|last4=Sun|first4=Youxian|date=2007-10-09|title=Wireless Sensor/Actuator Network Design for Mobile Control Applications|journal=Sensors |volume=7|issue=10|pages=2157–2173|doi=10.3390/s7102157|issn=1424-8220|pmc=3864515|pmid=28903220|bibcode=2007Senso...7.2157X|doi-access=free}}</ref>  The development of these networks was motivated by military applications such as battlefield surveillance.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2006|title=Wireless sensor networks for battlefield surveillance|url=http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~wenh/lwc2006_v4.pdf}}</ref> Such networks are used in industrial and consumer applications, such as industrial process monitoring and control and machine health monitoring and agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Global |first=I. G. I. |title=Wireless sensor networks have potential in health care and agriculture, says study |url=https://techxplore.com/news/2023-02-wireless-sensor-networks-potential-health.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=techxplore.com |language=en}}</ref>

A WSN is built of "nodes" – from a few to hundreds or thousands, where each node is connected to other sensors. Each such node typically has several parts: a [[radio]] [[transceiver]] with an internal [[Antenna (radio)|antenna]] or connection to an external antenna, a [[microcontroller]], an electronic circuit for interfacing with the sensors and an energy source, usually a [[battery (electricity)|battery]] or an [[embedded system|embedded]] form of [[energy harvesting]]. A [[sensor node]] might vary in size from a shoebox to (theoretically) a grain of dust, although microscopic dimensions have yet to be realized. Sensor node cost is similarly variable, ranging from a few to hundreds of dollars, depending on node sophistication. Size and cost constraints constrain resources such as energy, memory, computational speed and communications bandwidth. The topology of a WSN can vary from a simple [[star network]] to an advanced [[Multi-hop routing|multi-hop]] [[wireless mesh network]]. Propagation can employ [[routing]] or [[Flooding algorithm|flooding]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Dargie, W. |author2=Poellabauer, C. |title=Fundamentals of wireless sensor networks: theory and practice|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=2010|isbn=978-0-470-99765-9|pages=168–183, 191–192}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sohraby, K. |author2=Minoli, D. |author3=Znati, T. |title=Wireless sensor networks: technology, protocols, and applications|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=2007|isbn=978-0-471-74300-2|pages=203–209}}</ref>

In [[computer science]] and [[telecommunications]], wireless sensor networks are an active research area supporting many workshops and conferences, including [[International Workshop on Embedded Networked Sensors (EmNetS)]], [[International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks|IPSN]], [[Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems|SenSys]], [[MobiCom (conference)|MobiCom]] and [[European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks|EWSN]]. As of 2010, wireless sensor networks had deployed approximately 120{{nbsp}}million remote units worldwide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Oliveira |first1=Joao |last2=Goes |first2=João |title=Parametric Analog Signal Amplification Applied to Nanoscale CMOS Technologies |date=2012 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=978-1-4614-1670-8 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ahl_OuKxsToC&pg=PR7}}</ref>

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