Intelligent wireless sensor networks (iWSNs) in cyber-physical systems

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) receive considerable attention as one of the key and enabling technologies of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) that, in turn, present a new computing paradigm now and into the future. WSNs are open to a wide range of potential applications, such as environmental monitoring, human health monitoring, target detection and tracking, and industrial process control. To be smart and highly efficient services are the present and future demand of WSNs. In this chapter, we aim to introduce the fundamentals of an intelligent wireless sensor network (iWSN) and its requisites, characteristics, and applications. Also, we distinguish between the traditional WSN and the iWSN. First, the definition and properties of an intelligent system are described. Then we explain how a WSN can be deployed in a cyber-physical system and provide the facility for communications among different components of the system. In the next sections, various characteristics of an iWSN, its applications, and comparison to WSN are highlighted. Two applications of WSN, comprising smart grid and smart field monitoring system for pest control, will be introduced and compared in terms of the features of intelligence they require.