Patent ID: 7433648

Claim:
A system for wireless communication and sensory monitoring comprising: a plurality of nodes installed as a network, each of the plurality of nodes comprising: an internode physical layer that is configured to manage wireless radio frequency communication between the node and other nodes; a wireless network physical layer separate from the internode physical layer that is configured to manage wireless radio frequency communication with one or more wireless devices other than the plurality of nodes; a common antenna coupled to both the internode physical layer and the wireless network physical layer via antenna management logic, wherein the antenna management logic is configured to direct the common antenna to transmit an internode radio frequency signal only in the direction of another of the plurality of nodes and to direct the common antenna to broadcast a wireless network signal to the one or more wireless devices; one or more sensors for monitoring an environment of a structure; and a processor coupled to the internode physical layer, the wireless network physical layer and the one or more sensors, the processor operable to exchange data with at least one of the other nodes via the internode physical layer, to exchange data with the one or more wireless devices via the wireless network physical layer, and to obtain and process data obtained from the one or more sensors coupled to the processor; and a wide area network bridge coupled to the plurality of nodes, the network bridge configured to receive data from the plurality of nodes and pass information to a computer network for processing.