An experimental wireless sensor network applied in engineering courses

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are an emerging technology based on the progress of electrical and mechanical engineering, as well as computer science in the last decade. This paper presents our experiences in designing and developing a WSN using commercial-off-the-shelf components and assembled in-house. This WSN is used as a support tool for teaching in undergraduate engineering programs in Electronic and Computing, providing students a hands-on experience with emphasis on embedded software design. ß

An educational tool for wireless sensor networks

“…This has been previously addressed following different approaches for different purposes. Among them may be mentioned the work done by Aguilar et al [9] in building and testing hardware sensor nodes prototypes as a part of a WSN course. In a similar way, in order to reduce economic costs and the learning time of hardware design tools, Lim et al [10] developed a virtual hardware platform which allowed students to make modifications on the (virtual) hardware and software components of the system.…”

A Java Compatible Virtual Machine as an Embedded Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks

“…Although they have just a short time of existence, some platforms can be easily found in the technological market in the form of commercial products and research platforms such as: Telosb [6], TinyNode [7], Tmote Sky [8] and LiSANDRA [9] being these last two test platforms for our Java Virtual Machine implementation. For the most optimistic, the great interest in development and the variety of platforms for this type of networks can be interpreted as the possibility that soon these networks will fill our lives collecting, processing, communicating and studying variables in our surroundings; but the reality is another, given the fact that these networks are still in an experimental stage, certain elements and standards (as much in hardware as in software) for development are still missing [10].…”

An Application of a Low-Cost Monitoring and Guidance System in a WSN

“…RSSI values can be affected from a lot of parameters, such as environmental factors, antenna type, the direction of the node, non-homogeneous signal power distribution etc. Since the method is prone to error, the parameters of the environment and nodes should be examined, and necessary calibrations has to be performed carefully [15][17] [18]. Otherwise, the results obtained could be meaningless.…”