What is a wireless sensor network?

1.1. Overview of wireless sensor networks

A wireless sensor network is a network of many sensor nodes arranged in different patterns, to monitor environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, pressure, motion, vibration, pollution, or physical movements. They then cooperate to transmit the data over the network, to a place for analysis or storage.

There are two main types of sensor nodes, battery-powered or natural-powered, most of which use solar energy. The sensor nodes can only travel a few tens of meters, so the network nodes will forward the data from the sensors to the gateway from the cloud. Since it is a wireless sensor network, they will be communicated over the internet. Data in this network is transmitted in many steps to reach the destination.

1.2 Benefits of wireless sensor networks

In this section we present the benefits in detail the benefits of this type of network:

Easy to install

So, with your use of a wired sensor network, installing a wireless sensor network brings more benefits. First of all, you don’t need to spend money on wires. You also have no limitations in installing wireless sensors because it’s simple, you can place them anywhere for custom IoT solutions.

Optimal cost

Installation costs may be more expensive than if you installed a wired system, but when maintaining or expanding the system, costs are optimized when you use a wireless sensor network

Easy maintenance

In addition to saving on maintenance fees, thanks to the battery- or solar-powered sensors, energy maintenance for them is easy. When a node fails, you only need to replace it, thanks to the nature of this network that the nodes work independently of each other and only connect wireless.

Security

These network application projects are those that put security first. From smart home to the commercial center, government office, or a smart city. Thanks to the internet connection which is the evolution of wireless networks like 5G technology, data is transmitted with low bandwidth and high speed allowing us to implement many effective security measures. We will clarify this part more later in the article.

High flexibility and scalability

Wireless sensor networks have never been used only for large areas. They are just superior to other types. If you want to set it up for your office, it is quite possible that the model type has a lot of flexibility. When expanding, you simply add the node at the position you want.

Let’s take a look at some real-life examples.

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