Next century challenges: mobile networking for “Smart Dust”
February 1st, 2006
http://www.citeulike.org/user/scottr/article/482187
A very cool little paper, talking about the possibility of “smart dust”, essentially a sensor network on an even smaller scale. The main thrust of this paper is using optical techniques to transmit data between dust “motes” and a base station. The base station emits light that the motes detect and reflect back, modulating the light to transmit the data - this way most of the energy to transmit the data is coming from the base station, in the form of the original light wave, and is simply modulated and reflected back, at very little cost to the dust mote. It also allows for “space division multiplexing”, as the base station can receive reflected data back from any number of dust motes up to the resolution of the camera being used.
Entry Filed under: Sensor Network Papers
2 Comments Add your own
1. Olivier | February 3rd, 2006 at 8:18 pm
So it means there has to be a clear sight between nodes and the BS? The idea is nice, but would it work on something else then clean flat ground?
2. Administrator | February 6th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
As far as I can tell, yes, there needs to be clear LOS between the base-station and the nodes. So, for example, the base-station could be placed in an elevated position, such as a hill, looking down over an area. Obviously this imposes contraints, but with clear LOS, the total aggregate data rate acheivable is much higher than an RF system, and with lower total power usage. The paper mentions that dust motes could route data between themselves if some of the motes do not have LOS to the BS, however this would require an active transmitter on each mote, increasing power usage.
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