Wireless Sensor networks / Ubiquitous Computing

Ubiquitous computing brings the latest wave in computing. First were mainframes, where computers used to be as big as one standard room, each shared by lots of people. Next came the personal computing era, where person and machine staring uneasily at each other across the desktop. Currently we are in the mobile computing era, where computing devices have become smaller and much easier to carry but still need to be operated by humans. Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of "computers everywhere", when technology recedes into the background of our lives. The time is coming when devices will be smart enough to think and act themselves.

Wireless sensors connect the physical environment with enterprise management and information systems to provide advanced monitoring, automation and control solutions for a range of industries. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) typically consist of a large number of nodes that are low-power, low-cost autonomous devices with integrated sensing, processing and wireless communication capabilities and small form factor. WSN's enable the remote monitoring and management of critical devices while providing data to enable more informed decision-making, better control, and increased revenue opportunities.

Wireless sensor devices are constructed with three major sections:

• data acquisition
• data transportation
• data presentation

Deployment of robust wireless sensors to acquire data of interest, connect the physical world, such as a person's heart rate, machinery vibration, or environmental information such as gas level and moisture concentrations. Data transportation is moving this collected data from the source device, such as a gas sensor, to a destination device, such as a display or database. Data presentation is the displaying of the acquired data in some usable form to the IT systems in order to provide better visibility and control and give access to important process and diagnostic information.

The sensor network delivers wirelessly enabled process optimization, asset management and preventative maintenance
solutions to improve the overall process efficiency at significantly reduced installation and management cost.

The network is unmanned, intelligent and self healing.