What Is a Wireless Sensor Network?

Wireless Sensor Networks (Wireless Sensor Networks, WSN) is a distributed sensor network. At its tip are sensors that can sense and inspect the outside world. The sensors in the WSN communicate wirelessly, so the network settings are flexible, the location of the device can be changed at any time, and it can also be wired or wirelessly connected to the Internet. A multi-hop ad hoc network formed by wireless communication.

Wireless sensor network is a network form in which tens of thousands of sensor nodes are freely organized and combined through wireless communication technology. The units constituting the sensor node are: a data acquisition unit, a data transmission unit, a data processing unit, and an energy supply unit. The data acquisition unit usually collects and converts the information in the monitoring area, such as light intensity and atmospheric pressure and humidity; the data transmission unit is mainly based on wireless communication and exchange of information and sending and receiving those collected data information; The data processing unit usually deals with the routing protocols and management tasks of all nodes, as well as the positioning device. The energy supply unit will choose the form of the micro battery to reduce the area occupied by the sensor nodes. There are two types of nodes in wireless sensor networks, one is the convergence node and the other is the sensor node. The convergence node mainly refers to the gateway's ability to remove false report data from the sensor nodes, and combine the data with related reports to fuse the data to determine the events that occur. The connection between the sink node and the user node can directly communicate through a wide area network or satellite, and process the collected data. ^[1]

Compared with traditional networks and other sensors, wireless sensor networks have the following characteristics:

(1) Free formation. The formation of wireless network sensors is not limited by any external conditions. The founder can quickly set up a fully functional wireless network sensor network at any time and place. The maintenance and management work after the establishment is also completely carried out within the network. .

(2) Uncertainty of network topology. From the perspective of the network level, the network topology of wireless sensors is uncertain. For example, the sensor nodes that make up the network topology can be increased or decreased at any time, and the network topology diagram can be separated or merged at any time.

(3) The control methods are not centralized. Although the wireless sensor network centrally controls the nodes of the base station and the sensors, the control method between the sensor nodes is still decentralized. The routing and host functions are implemented by the terminals of the network. Each host operates independently and does not interfere with each other. The strength of a sensor network is so high that it is difficult to break.

(4) The security is not high. Wireless sensor networks use wireless methods to transmit information. Therefore, sensor nodes are easily invaded by the outside world during the process of transmitting information, resulting in information leakage and damage to the wireless sensor network. Most nodes in wireless sensor networks are exposed. Greatly reduces the security of wireless sensor networks. ^[2]

Wireless sensor networks are mainly composed of three parts, including nodes, sensor networks and users. Among them, the nodes generally cover the nodes in a certain range through a certain method, and the entire range can meet the monitoring range according to certain requirements. The sensor network is the most important part. It collects all node information through fixed channels. Then perform a certain analysis and calculation on the information of these nodes, summarize the analysis results to a base station, and finally transmit them to the specified user terminal through satellite communication, so as to achieve the requirements of wireless sensing. ^[3]

1. Application of wireless sensors in electrical automation

In the continuous development of China's automation technology, China's power system is a rapidly developing field. Automation of the power system can help reduce unnecessary energy waste, reduce the incidence of accidents, and Efficiency of repairs and maintenance. The fault tolerance rate of manual power system management work is low. People must make timely adjustments according to the operating conditions of power system equipment during the work process. Similarly, in the process of electrical automation, real-time monitoring of the power system is required. The voltage is adjusted. During the operation of the power system, due to the external environment such as weather and temperature, it will change from moment to moment. If the external conditions change drastically, the power properties of the power system will also change greatly. In order to compensate for this part of the change, it needs to be adjusted. Data collection is an important content first, and some devices need to be able to statistics the electrical property values in the electrical system, and then process them to process the data. Record transmission, control it according to the content of transmission, and improve its automation level. In addition, in the power system, it is necessary to set some environmental sensing equipment such as temperature and humidity within the unit distance to supervise the environment of the power system in order to predict changes in the power system. In electrical automation, wireless sensor devices are mostly used. By using wireless sensor devices, some wiring problems can be avoided and the efficiency of the sensor devices can be improved. The use of wireless sensing devices has many advantages compared to the past monitoring and management devices. The most obvious advantage is that it reduces the complexity of the line. In power systems, especially high-voltage transmission lines, if the line is more It is complicated. In the process of management and maintenance, it will increase the difficulty of work and have higher risks. Compared with traditional sensing devices, wireless sensing devices are less likely to be damaged, and the transmitted data is more accurate and has higher value.

2. Application of wireless sensing technology in monitoring

In the process of using wireless sensor technology for monitoring, the monitoring equipment used for different types of monitoring work is not only the same. Among them, in the industrial production process, the more commonly used sensing technology is temperature sensing technology. In the process of using the sensing technology to monitor industrial production, it mainly monitors the boiler to ensure the safety of the boiler. In the boiler, the water-cooled pipe of the boiler is closely related to the temperature of the boiler. Most of the common water-cooled pipes today are composed of steel pipes. During the process of heat discharge, the heat needs to be discharged through the steel pipes. However, during the cooling process, with the discharge of a large amount of heat, some debris, such as some small soot particles, will be discharged at the same time. Over time, some dirt may appear on the steel wall and adhere to the steel pipe. If the dirt is too thick, Will affect the heat dissipation of the steel pipe, and the water-cooled wall can withstand a certain upper limit, the heat on the water-cooled wall is difficult to be dissipated in time, it will work under excessive pressure for a long time in overload The state will have a more serious impact on the structure of the water-cooled wall. After a period of use, a more serious accident may occur. In today's boiler management, most of the computers are remotely controlled. This can avoid high-temperature environments causing harm to workers. However, the use of remote control technology requires monitoring of the boiler. In a high-temperature environment, using a wired monitoring device, the line will be affected by the high-temperature environment, causing additional losses and requiring more costs. With wireless sensor technology for monitoring, in the process of data transmission, no other items are needed as media, and measurement data can be transmitted directly. In the process of monitoring and management, the number of damaged parts will be reduced, which can effectively reduce production. cost. Moreover, the wireless sensor network can be used to monitor different parts more comprehensively and make the work more comprehensive.

3. Application of wireless sensing technology in positioning

In today's applications of wireless sensing technology, not only large organizations can be used for work and scientific research. For individuals, due to the continuous development of technology, the cost of wireless sensing technology is also getting lower and lower, and more and more people can apply wireless sensing technology to individuals. For individuals, the main purpose of wireless sensor technology is to perform positioning. Positioning technology is a widely used aspect for sensor technology. Installing a wireless sensor device on a vehicle can use wireless sensor technology. The location information of the vehicle is transmitted, and then the information is processed and sent by the transit station, so that the receiving station can clearly understand the location information of the car. It is of great significance for car navigation. In addition, you can also use wireless sensing technology on some of the items you carry with you to locate some elderly or children in real time to avoid accidents for some vulnerable people. ^[4]