Applications of Wireless Sensor Networks in Real Life

Wireless sensor networks are one of the hot topics in the current information field. They can be used to collect, process and send signals in special environments. Wireless sensor networks are a new information acquisition and processing technology that has been increasingly widely used in real life. So what are the applications of wireless sensor networks?

(1) Military applications

In the military field, WSN is very suitable for harsh battlefield environments due to its dense and randomly distributed characteristics. WSN can be used to monitor the enemy's troops and equipment in the area, monitor battlefield conditions in real time, locate targets, monitor nuclear attacks or biological and chemical attacks, etc.

(2) Assisting agricultural production

WSN is particularly suitable for the following production and scientific research. For example, the temperature, humidity, and light monitoring of greenhouse planting rooms and soil, the analysis and measurement of the growth rules of precious economic crops, and the high-quality breeding and production of grapes can greatly help rural development and increase farmers' income. Using WSN to build an automatic agricultural environment monitoring system and use a set of network equipment to complete data collection and environmental control of wind, light, water, electricity, heat, and pesticides can effectively improve the degree of agricultural intensive production and improve the scientific nature of agricultural production and planting.

(3) Ecological monitoring and disaster warning

WSN can be widely used in ecological environment monitoring, biological population research, meteorological and geographical research, flood and fire monitoring. Environmental monitoring provides a scientific basis for decision-making in environmental protection and is the foundation of ecological protection. Deploying WSN in wild areas or areas not suitable for manual monitoring can carry out long-term unattended uninterrupted monitoring and provide real-time data for ecological environment protection and research.

Specific applications include: conducting research on endangered populations by tracking the habitats and foraging habits of rare birds and other animals; deploying sensor nodes along rivers to monitor water levels and water pollution at any time; deploying nodes in areas prone to natural disasters such as mudslides and landslides to issue disaster warnings in advance and take corresponding disaster prevention measures in a timely manner; deploying a large number of nodes in key protected forest areas to monitor internal fire risks at any time. Once a fire is discovered, an alarm can be issued immediately, and the specific location and current size of the fire can be given; nodes can be deployed in areas where earthquakes, floods and other disasters occur, remote mountainous areas or remote wild areas for temporary emergency communications.

(4) Infrastructure status monitoring system

WSN technology plays a positive role in the safe construction of large-scale projects and the monitoring of building safety conditions. By deploying sensor nodes, the conditions of buildings, bridges and other structures can be observed in a timely and accurate manner, and dangerous situations can be discovered and repaired in a timely manner to avoid serious consequences.

(5) Application in industrial fields

In terms of industrial safety, sensor network technology can be used in dangerous working environments. For example, sensor nodes can be deployed in coal mines, oil drilling, nuclear power plants and assembly lines to monitor the safety of the working environment at any time and provide guarantees for the safety of workers. In addition, sensor nodes can also replace some workers to perform tasks in dangerous environments, which not only reduces the degree of danger, but also improves the accuracy and speed of response to dangerous situations.

Due to its easy deployment and flexible networking, WSN is gradually playing a role in warehouse logistics management and smart home.

Wireless sensor networks enable sensors to form a local Internet of Things, exchange and obtain information in real time, and eventually converge into the Internet of Things, forming an important source of information and basic applications for the Internet of Things.

(6) Ensure safe and smooth traffic in intelligent transportation

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is a new type of transportation system developed on the basis of the traditional transportation system. It applies information, communication, control and computer technology and other modern communication technologies to the transportation field, and organically combines "people, vehicles, roads and environment". Adding a wireless sensor network technology to the existing transportation facilities will fundamentally alleviate the problems of safety, smoothness, energy saving and environmental protection that plague modern transportation, and at the same time improve the efficiency of transportation work. Therefore, the application of wireless sensor network technology to intelligent transportation systems has become a research hotspot in recent years.

Intelligent transportation system mainly includes the collection and transmission of traffic information, traffic control and guidance, etc. Wireless sensor network can provide an effective means for the collection and transmission of information of intelligent transportation system, and is used to monitor the traffic flow, speed and other information in all directions of the road surface and intersection.

It is mainly composed of subsystems such as information collection input, strategy control, output execution, data transmission and communication between subsystems, etc. The information collection subsystem mainly collects vehicle and road information through sensors, and then the strategy control subsystem calculates the best solution based on the set goals and uses calculation methods, and outputs control signals to the execution subsystem to guide and control the passage of vehicles, so as to achieve the preset goals.

Wireless sensor networks can also be used in intelligent transportation in technical fields such as traffic information release, electronic toll collection, vehicle speed measurement, parking management, integrated information service platform, intelligent public transportation and rail transportation, traffic guidance system and integrated information platform.

(7) Making great contributions to the medical system

In recent years, wireless sensor networks have been widely used in medical systems and health care, such as monitoring various physiological data of the human body, tracking and monitoring the actions of doctors and patients in hospitals, and drug management in hospitals. If special-purpose sensor nodes are installed on hospitalized patients, such as heart rate and blood pressure monitoring equipment, doctors can keep track of the patient's condition at any time and quickly rescue them when abnormal conditions are found.

A study at the University of Rochester shows that these computers could even be used for medical research. Scientists used wireless sensors to create a "smart medical home," a five-room apartment where they tested concepts and prototypes using human research projects.

The "Smart Medical Home" uses motes to measure the vital characteristics of residents (blood pressure, pulse and breathing), sleeping posture and activity status 24 hours a day. The collected data will be used for future medical research. By embedding network sensors in equipment such as shoes, furniture and household appliances, it can help the elderly, seriously ill patients and disabled people in their home life. The use of sensor networks can efficiently transmit necessary information to facilitate the receipt of care, and can reduce the burden on caregivers and improve the quality of care.

Using sensor networks to collect physiological data over a long period of time can speed up the process of developing new drugs, and the micro-sensors installed on the monitored subjects will not cause too much inconvenience to their normal lives. In addition, it also has novel and unique applications in many aspects such as drug management.

(8) Promoting the intelligence of information appliances

The gradual popularization of wireless sensor networks has promoted the rapid development of information appliances and network technology. The main equipment of home networks has expanded from a single machine to multiple home appliances. Smart home network control nodes based on wireless sensor networks provide a basic platform for the connection between internal and external networks in the home and the connection between information appliances and devices between internal networks.

Embedding sensor nodes in home appliances and connecting them to the Internet through wireless networks will provide people with a more comfortable, convenient and user-friendly smart home environment. Remote monitoring systems can be used to remotely control home appliances, and image sensing devices can be used to monitor home safety at any time. Sensor networks can be used to build smart kindergartens, monitor children's early education environment, and track children's activities.

Wireless sensor networks use the existing Internet, mobile communication networks and telephone networks to inform residents of information such as indoor environmental parameters and the operating status of home appliances, so that residents can understand the internal conditions of their homes in a timely manner and remotely monitor home appliances, thereby realizing information transmission between the home and the outside world.

Wireless sensor networks allow residents to monitor their home water meters, electricity meters, gas meters, electric water heaters, air conditioners, rice cookers, security systems, gas leak alarm systems, intrusion warning systems, etc. through browsers anywhere there is Internet access, and they can also set commands through browsers to remotely control home appliances.