JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD B.Tech IV WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS Previous Question Paper (September - 2022 - R18)

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are deployed across diverse sectors due to their ability to monitor environmental and physical conditions. Key applications include:

• Environmental Monitoring: Used for tracking forest fires, flood detection, air quality, and precision agriculture by monitoring soil moisture and nutrient levels.
• Healthcare: Enables remote patient monitoring, tracking vital signs, and assisting in elderly care through wearable sensors that alert medical staff in emergencies.
• Industrial/Manufacturing: Facilitates condition-based maintenance by monitoring machine vibrations, temperature, and pressure to predict failures and optimize production.
• Military and Defense: Utilized for battlefield surveillance, intrusion detection, and tracking enemy movement or chemical/biological agent detection.
• Smart Cities: Supports intelligent traffic management, smart parking systems, waste management, and energy-efficient street lighting.
• Structural Health Monitoring: Sensors embedded in bridges, buildings, and dams monitor structural integrity and detect cracks or stress patterns over time.

Wireless sensor networks are classified based on their deployment environment, connectivity, and communication requirements:

• Terrestrial WSNs: These are deployed on the ground to monitor environmental data. They consist of hundreds to thousands of sensor nodes deployed in an ad-hoc manner, often using a base station for data collection.
• Underground WSNs: Designed for monitoring soil, pipeline, or mineral conditions. These networks are more expensive to deploy and require specialized equipment to overcome signal attenuation through soil and rock.
• Underwater WSNs: Consist of sensor nodes and vehicles deployed under water. They rely on acoustic communication, which faces challenges like low bandwidth, high latency, and signal propagation delays.
• Multimedia WSNs: Equipped with cameras and microphones to capture video, audio, and images. They require higher bandwidth and processing power to handle data-intensive multimedia streams.
• Mobile WSNs: Involve sensor nodes that can move independently and interact with the physical environment. These are highly dynamic and require complex protocols for network topology maintenance.