University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Characterization of Wireless Smart Sensor Performance

Linderman, Lauren E.; Rice, Jennifer A.; Barot, Suhail; Spencer, Billie F., Jr.; Bernhard, Jennifer T.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/15101

Description

Title
Characterization of Wireless Smart Sensor Performance
Author(s)
  • Linderman, Lauren E.
  • Rice, Jennifer A.
  • Barot, Suhail
  • Spencer, Billie F., Jr.
  • Bernhard, Jennifer T.
Issue Date
2010-02
Keyword(s)
  • Structural Health Monitoring
  • Antennas
  • Smart Sensors
  • Wireless Smart Sensor Network
  • Imote2
Abstract
A critical aspect of using wireless sensors for structural health monitoring is communication performance. Unlike wired systems, data transfer is less reliable between wireless sensor nodes due to data loss. While reliable communication protocols are typically used to reduce data loss, this increase in communication can drain already limited power resources. This report provides an experimental investigation of the wireless communication characteristics of the Imote2 smart sensor platform; the presentation is tailored towards the end user, e.g., application engineers and researchers. Following a qualitative discussion of wireless communication and packet delivery, a quantitative characterization of wireless communication capabilities of the Imote2 platform is provided, including an assessment of onboard and external antenna performance. Herein, the external antenna was found to significantly outperform the onboard antenna in both transmission and reception reliability. However, the built environment, including building materials and other wireless networks, can significantly reduce reception rate and thus increase packet loss. Finally, implications of these results for a full-scale implementation are presented.
Publisher
Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Series/Report Name or Number
Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory Report Series 021
ISSN
1940-9826
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/15101
Copyright and License Information
Copyright held by the authors. All rights reserved.

Owning Collections

Newmark Structural Laboratory Report Series (NSEL Report Series ISSN 1940-9826) PRIMARY
Report series highlights research conducted at the Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory