Imagine a world with smart machines that can self-diagnose and repair,
predict aging components and proactively alert factories for replacement parts
before the machine breaks down. Agriculture uses sensing information to apply
pesticide and fertiliser can only when required. Smart roads will make travel
safer and highways less congested by noting accidents, potholes, alternate
routes and reporting the information to a car's positioning system. Smart
appliances, such as refrigerators, will understand families' dietary
requirements or doctor's orders and take inventory of refrigerators to relay
information to a shopping list on a personal digital assistant. Wireless
sensor networks will help realize this vision. Sensors are tiny devices
capable of capturing physical information, such as heat, light or motion,
about an environment. Rapid advances in technology have enabled a new
generation of tiny, inexpensive, networked sensors. Embedding millions of
sensors into an environment creates a digital skin or wireless network of
sensors, each sensor capable of capturing physical information about its
immediate space. These massively distributed sensor networks communicate with
one another and summarize the immense amounts of low-level information to
produce data representative of the overall environment. Collaborative, smart
sensor networks present information in a qualitative, human-interpretable
form, which allows people (or computers) to respond intelligently. Sensor
networks will change the way we work and live. This presentation will cover a
broad overview of the opportunities, challenges and state-of-the art of
wireless sensor networks.