So the
short-range radio is exclusively used by the collars for communicating with
one another. This dual radio design enables the non-intrusive collection of
data using a few long-range communications, and also reduces energy consumption
of the nodes by using short-range, low power communications
most of the time.
Thus, we see how application-specific requirements lead to some unique
and challenging design problems. The ZebraNet sensor network is currently
under deployment at the Mpala Research Center, in the Sweetwaters Reserve
in central Kenya. The Mpala Research Center is a biology field station administered
by Princeton University along with the Kenya Wildlife Service,
the National Museums of Kenya, the Mpala Wildlife Foundation, and the
Smithsonian Institution. Further details of this project can be found in [51].
7 Conclusions and Future Directions
In this section, we provide a summary of the ideas discussed in the chapter,
and discuss a few broad directions for future work.
Wireless sensor networks are anticipated to play a key role in observing,
collecting and disseminating relevant information about a variety of interesting
phenomena. The performance of these networks depends heavily on
the design of the underlying communication protocols. In order to collaboratively
network and coordinate a large number of sensor devices with limited
capabilities, it is necessary to apply non-traditional design principles such
as cross-layer integration and application-specific design, in order to develop
lightweight and integrated protocol solutions.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84