Energy conserving coordination and data communication in wireless sensor actuator networks

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This is a proposal to design, develop, and prove out new technologies and associated methodologies for creating distributed wireless networks of "sensors", "actuators", and "sinks". An integrated network of these components would be capable of autonomously monitoring and reacting to the physical environment according to predefined rules. In the context of the proposed research, "sensors" are collections of large numbers of small, low-cost, low-power, multifunctional devices that gather information about the physical world. For example, they could detect motion, temperature, humidity, concentrations of specific chemicals, etc.  The sensors wirelessly transmit this data to other proposed network devices called "actuators" and "sinks". Actuators consolidate data received from large groups of sensors, evaluate the data, and autonomously perform actions on the environment based on some decision logic. They may be fixed devices or even mobile robots. "Sinks" resemble actuators except that they do not perform actions on the environment. Sinks would also provide overall network administration and configuration capabilities for users, and could link to other networks such as the Internet. This proposal covers an emerging area of technology research with many potentially valuable commercial, industrial, and military applications. The proposed research would build on a strong foundation of knowledge and expertise in telecommunications and data modeling that exists in Canada. The new research would enable cutting-edge and highly competitive capabilities for environmental data collection, analysis, and response in nascent markets.