an analysis of a large scale habitat monitoring application
Habitat and environmental monitoring is a driving application for wireless sensor networks. We present an analysis of data from a second generation sensor networks deployed during the summer and autumn of 2003. During a 4 month deployment, these networks, consisting of 150 devices, produced unique datasets for both systems and biological analysis. This paper focuses on nodal and network performance, with an emphasis on lifetime, reliability, and the the static and dynamic aspects of single and multi-hop networks. We compare the results collected to expectations set during the design phase: we were able to accurately predict lifetime of the single-hop network, but we underestimated the impact of multi-hop traffic overhearing and the nuances of power source selection. While initial packet loss data was commensurate with lab experiments, over the duration of the deployment, reliability of the backend infrastructure and the transit network had a dominant impact on overall network performance. Finally, we evaluate the physical design of the sensor node based on deployment experience and a  post mortem  analysis. The results shed light on a number of design issues from network deployment, through selection of power sources to optimizations of routing decisions.
analysis habitat monitoring monitor applications drive wireless sensor network sensor sensor networks network data generation deployment device systems paper network performance lifetime reliability dynamic aspect design predict traffic power select experience infrastructure transit evaluation physical design lighting optimality routing long-lived systems large-scale implementation application analysis packet-loss network architecture microclimate monitoring