Applications of wireless sensor networks

Today the researchers want to collect as much data as possible from different locations for monitoring reasons. In this context large-scale wireless sensor networks are becoming an active topic of research (Kahn1999). Because of the different locations and environments in which these sensor networks can be used, specific requirements for the hardware apply. The hardware of the sensor nodes must be robust, provide sufficient storage and communication capabilities, and get along with limited power resources. Sensor nodes such as the Berkeley-Mote Family (Polastre2006, Schmitt2006) are capable of meeting these requirements. These sensor nodes are small and light devices with radio communication and the capability for collecting sensor data. In this chapter the authors review the key elements for sensor networks and give an overview on possible applications in the field of monitoring.