Networking unattended
wireless sensors is expected to have significant impact on the efficiency of a large array of military
and non-military applications. The main goal of wireless sensor networks is to obtain globally meaningful information from strictly local gleaned by individual sensor nodes. The network is deployed such that the sensors are embedded, possibly at random, in a target
environment. Utilizing the basic capabilities of sensors in the network different types of monitoring and control applications that address the target environment can be developed. Depending on the application at hand, the interface between a sensor network and the outside world is provided by aircraft, helicopters, ground-based vehicles, satellites, co-located sink-nodes, among others. Wireless sensor networks are sufficiently different from classical wired/wireless networks that a new set of protocols that take into account the fundamental limitations of sensors have to be developed. For example, in was recently noted that the ultra-lightweight protocols imposed by the stringent energy limitations may leave not much room for advanced encryption schemes. Consequently, protection against overhearing in military applications and privacy protection in personal systems needs to be inherently built into the concepts from the beginning. Reliability is expected to be a result of the large number of sensors deployed for a specific task. However, this can only be obtained if defective sensors can be excluded from the communication, and the sensors are calibrated – either individually or collectively, either before deployment or continuously in their environment. Since sensor network
research is in its infancy, we are facing a unique challenge and opportunity: that of developing fundamental research for this new type of networks that promises to revolutionize the way we live and work.