Download Final Term Paper Instructions

UCSD ECE 156, MAE 149 and SIO 238 Spring 2013
Sensor Networks – Final WSN Design Project
[Submit by: Friday June 14th, 2013, 11:59 PM]
Note: Please consider all of the instructions provided in this document very carefully as you
prepare and present your final WSN term project report.
It should be a complete description of the overall sensor network concept along with details on
the sensor node, network concept and technology employed, and aggregate data rate and
overall power requirements.
Organize your report into sections as defined below. Include page numbers. All figures,
block diagrams, and tables in the main body of the report should be numbered, have
captions, and should be referred to in the text by their corresponding numbers. Include
references to all literature used in preparing your project.
The report should be approximately 15 pages long (without including appendices).
1. Cover Page. Include project title, class (ECE 156, MAE 149, or SIO 238), your name, and
date.
2. Objective. In a single paragraph, state the overall theme of your sensor network - e.g.
environmental sensing, structural response, biomedical sensing, etc. What specific physical
quantities will you be sensing and how do they fit into your theme? Why do the sensor nodes
need to be networked together? Will the network be wired or wireless? Where will the data go
and who will need access to it?
3. Sensor node description. (Summarize from your previous assignments.)
(a) Generate a block diagram of your sensor node indicating the sensors, nature of their
outputs (analog, serial/parallel digital, logic, etc.), if any signal conditioning is required (indicate
just as a "signal conditioning" block), and if A/D conversion is required (indicated just as an
"A/D" block although the A/D might be integrated into the microcontroller). Show these signal
lines terminating at a microcontroller. Provide an overview of the block diagram in text.
(b) Briefly summarize the characteristics of each sensor in your node (what each is sensing,
manufacturer and model number, the expected range of input levels and corresponding range
of anticipated sensor output values, signal conditioning required, I/O required by
microcontroller (e.g. A/D, PWM, SPI, I2C, UART, counter/timer, etc), how often the quantity
needs to be sampled, the number of bits required, and why).
(c) Briefly summarize the characteristics of the node microcontroller (manufacturer and model
number, I/O and memory available, etc.) and any local storage required (e.g. flash memory).
Does the microcontroller need to do any computations prior to storing and/or forwarding the
data across the network? Draw a block diagram of the computation process flow if applicable.
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(d) Summarize in tables and briefly discuss in text the sampling rate (including the number of
bits/sample) of each sensor and power consumption (including voltage and current) of each
sensor, microcontroller, and local storage. Summarize the aggregate data rate from all sensors
(bytes/sec) and total node power requirements of the sensors, microcontroller, and local
storage (assumes signal conditioning is negligible). Briefly describe how the power
requirements will be met. If power cycling of the data acquisition system is to be implemented,
what duty cycle is appropriate for your sensors and what then becomes the average power
consumption and aggregate data rate?
(e) Summarize in a table and comment in text the cost of the individual node components and
total cost of the node.
4. Network concept.
(a) Generate a block diagram of your sensor network indicating the sensor nodes, the network
itself (wired or wireless), if there is a master controller or other data aggregation point on the
network, and if there is an access point or other gateway to the Internet.
(b) Briefly describe in text the overall network concept (e.g. master controller with slave nodes,
peer-to-peer network, wired or wireless, etc.). Discuss the rationale for the network concept
selected and why it is appropriate for your particular network of sensor nodes. Where will the
data from the sensor nodes are collected together? Will it be stored for
archival/access/analysis purposes? Will the data be available on the Internet?
5. Network technology employed.
(a) In some detail, describe the technical concept behind the network technology selected. Is
the network wired or wireless? How does a node obtain physical access to the network? How
is communication managed on the network and if peer-to-peer, how are collisions arbitrated?
What is the maximum length of the network (if wired) or representative maximum
communications distance (if wireless)? What is the maximum number of nodes which can be
attached to the network? How is node addressing done? How do nodes join and leave the
network? What is the maximum data rate or bandwidth which can be accommodated by the
network? Note the network topology used and state why it would work best for your system. Is
encryption needed? Why or why not.
(b) Specify hardware (manufacturer and model number) which will be used for the network and
cost (as well as where obtained). How will your sensor node interact with the network access
hardware (i.e. if the sensor node and network access hardware involve separate
microcontrollers, indicate how they will communicate – e.g. SPI or I2C bus)? What software is
required for network access? Are development kits available? If so, what do they cost and
what do they contain? How is the node assigned an address on the network? What is the
power requirement (including voltage and current) for the network access hardware?
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6. Aggregate data rate and power requirements.
(a) Summarize in a table and discuss in text the aggregate data rate from all sensor nodes
flowing across the network (consistent with 2(d) above). If power cycling of the nodes is
implemented, what then becomes the average data rate and, if necessary, how will the node
awake periods be synchronized across all nodes? If the data is to be stored for future
archival/access/analysis purposes, how much storage will be required?
(b) Summarize in a table and discuss in text the total power requirements of each sensor node
and the network access hardware (consistent with 2(d) above). How large a fraction of the total
node power budget is devoted to network access? How will the node and network access
hardware power requirements be met? If battery operation is not necessary, is battery backup
desirable and if so, for how long?
Assuming battery operation, how will the voltage and power requirements are met (e.g.
specific candidate batteries and their characteristics as well as cost, DC-to-DC converter
including a candidate example and its characteristics as well as cost, etc)? How long will the
batteries operate the node and network access hardware? If power cycling is to be
implemented, what duty cycle is appropriate for the sensor node and/or network access
hardware and what then becomes the average power consumption and battery lifetime?
Discuss any energy harvesting circuit such as solar panels if applicable.
7. Summary. Briefly summarize your overall sensor network concept including the sensor
node design, network concept and technology employed, the aggregate data rate across the
network, power requirements and how the power requirements will be met, and approximate
total cost of the components.
8. Concluding Remarks. Briefly and clearly discuss expected performance and conditions
where your system will perform reliably as per specifications. Also discuss, conditions where
your system is expected to fail and how such conditions can be avoided. Discuss any
extensions and related applications you can think of for your system. Finally, list 3-5 most
important concepts your design project allowed you to learn.
9. References. Provide a numbered list of references corresponding to the references in the
text.
10. Appendices (e.g. data sheets for network access hardware - only a few pages are
necessary that provide summary information).
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