Sensor Node - History

History

Although wireless sensor nodes have existed for decades and used for applications as diverse as earthquake measurements to warfare, the modern development of small sensor nodes dates back to the 1998 Smartdust project and the NASA Sensor Webs Project One of the objectives of the Smartdust project was to create autonomous sensing and communication within a cubic millimeter of space. Though this project ended early on, it led to many more research projects. They include major research centres in Berkeley NEST and CENS. The researchers involved in these projects coined the term mote to refer to a sensor node. The equivalent term in the NASA Sensor Webs Project for a physical sensor node is pod, although the sensor node in a Sensor Web can be another Sensor Web itself. Physical sensor nodes have been able to increase their capability in conjunction with Moore's Law. The chip footprint contains more complex and lower powered microcontrollers. Thus, for the same node footprint, more silicon capability can be packed into it. Nowadays, motes focus on providing the longest wireless range (dozens of km), the lowest energy consumption (some uA) and the easiest development process for the user.

Read more about this topic:  Sensor Node

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

    The true theater of history is therefore the temperate zone.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

    Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.
    Susan Sontag (b. 1933)