Design and Implementation of a Wireless Sensor Node for Real-time Monitoring Applications

Wireless Sensor Networks have many application fields including both industrial and military usages. They are used for monitoring temperature, distance, light, and motion in laboratories and/or application specific environments. This paper focuses on developing a sensor node which provides an easy-to-use way and an economical design. These nodes can be gathered to combine a wireless sensor network. The network can be controlled by the base station and instructed on where to go and what data to collect. This network utilizes the AVR microprocessor based board to store data received by each node and the associated sensors. ZigBee protocol is used for wireless communications. This protocol presents a cheap and small design consuming minimal power, and highly reliable way of data transfer. Data is transferred between each sensor nodet and the base station. A computer is also used to implement instructions and analyze data. The proposed design is described and illustrated in the paper, and performance metrics are presented.