SensorGrid: Integrating Sensor Networks and Grid Computing

Recent advances in electronic circuit miniaturization and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have led to the creation of small sensor nodes which integrate several kinds of sensors, a central processing unit (CPU), memory and a wireless transceiver. A collection of these sensor nodes forms a sensor network which is easily deployable to provide a high degree of visibility into real-world physical processes as they happen, thus benefitting a variety of applications such as environmental monitoring, surveillance and target tracking. Some of these sensor nodes may also incorporate actuators such as buzzers and switches which can affect the environment directly. We shall simply use the generic term sensor node to refer to these sensor-actuator nodes as well.