Abstract. A set of sensor nodes is the basic component of a sensor network. Many researchers are currently engaged in developing pervasive sensor nodes due to the great promise and potential with applications shown by various wireless remote sensor networks. This short paper describes the concept of sensor node architecture and current research activities on sensor node development at ICTCAS

Fei Wang

Hailing Ju

Haiyong Luo

Li Cui

Tianpu Li

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A Pervasive Sensor Node Architecture 
Li Cui, Fei Wang, Haiyong Luo, Hailing Ju, and Tianpu Li 
1 Institute of Computing Technology 
Chinese Academy of Sciences 
Beijing, P.R.China 100080 
lcui@ict.ac.cn 
Abstract. A set of sensor nodes is the basic component of a sensor network. 
Many researchers are currently engaged in developing pervasive sensor nodes 
due to the great promise and potential with applications shown by various wire-
less remote sensor networks. This short paper describes the concept of sensor 
node architecture and current research activities on sensor node development at 
ICTCAS.  
1   The Concept of Sensor Node Architecture 
A sensor network is made up of the following parts, namely a set of sensor nodes 
which are distributed in a sensor field, a sink which communicates with the task man-
ager via Internet interfacing with users. A set of sensor nodes is the basic component 
of a sensor network. Many researchers are currently engaged in developing pervasive 
sensor nodes  [1-3 ] due to the great promise and potential with applications shown 
by various wireless remote sensor networks [4-10]. A sensor node is composed of 
four basic components as shown in Fig. 1. They are a sensing unit, a processing unit, 
a communication unit and a power unit.  
 
 Sensing Unit                   Processing Unit           Communication Unit 
 
  
Sensor        ADC   
 
Processor 
 
Memory 
 
Transceiver 
 
Power Unit 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 1. The components of a sensor node 
 
Sensing units are usually made up of application specific sensors and ADCs (ana-
log to digital converters), which digitalize the analog signals produced by the sensors 
when they sensed particular phenomenon. In some cases, an actuator is also needed. 
Obviously sensors play a key role in a sensor network which are the very front end 
connecting our physical world to the computational world and the Internet. Although 
MEMS technology has been making steady progress in the past decades, there is still 
large space for the further development of smart front end sensors. Among them, 
various chemical and biochemical sensors remain one of the most challenging sensor 
groups to be explored and developed, e.g. sensors to detect toxic or explosive trace in 
public areas, sensors for diagnostic analysis and sensors used under extreme condi-
tions. New sensing principle, new sensing material and new sensor design need to be 
invented and adopted.  
The processing unit is usually associated with an embedded operating system, a 
microcontroller and a storage part. It manages data acquisition, analyzes the raw sens-
ing data and formulates answers to specific user requests. It also controls the commu-
nication and performs a wide variety of application specified tasks. Energy and cost 
are two key constraints for processing components. Nodes may have different types 
of processors for certain specific tasks. For example, a video sensor node may need a 
more powerful processor to run than a common temperature sensor. A small embed-
ded operation system such as Berkeley’s TinyOS [ 2 ] is another key issue for an 
embedded system. Besides the basic ability for process management and resource 
management, it may also possess the capability for software tailor and real time man-
agement, the ability to provide support for embedded middleware, network protocols 
and embedded database.     
The transceiver connects the sensor node to the network. Usually each of the sen-
sor nodes has the capability to transmit data to and receive data from another node 
and the sink. The latter may further communicate with the task manager via Internet 
(or Satellite) and information reaches the end user. A transceiver is the most power-
consuming component of the node. Thus the study of multi-hop communications and 
complex power saving modes of operation, e.g. having multiple different sleep states, 
is crucial in this content.   
The power unit delivers power to all the working parts of the node. Because of the 
limited capacity of the power unit, e.g. the limited lifetime of a battery, the develop-
ment of the power unit itself and the design of a power saving working mode of the 
sensor network remain some of the most important technical issues. For some 
applications, a solar battery may be used.   
  Additionally, a sensor node may have application dependent functional subunits 
such as a location finder, a mobilizer , a power generator and other special-purpose 
sensors. The nature or number of such subunits may vary, depending on the applica-
tion needs. It is a very interesting area to be continuously exploited.  
2   Current Research Activities at ICTCAS 
Research on sensor node architecture is currently undertaking at ICTCAS. Our goal is 
to build multifunctional sensing nodes targeting on applications such as intelligent 
transportation system, precision agriculture, remote medical care and public safety 
monitoring and notification and so on. 
Efforts are made to tackle the following technical issues: 
1) The development of new type of chemical sensors for the detection or monitor-
ing of explosives using new sensing principle and materials, e.g. function polymer 
and nano materials; the design of special-purpose sensor nodes, such as video sensors, 
monitoring sensors, and intruding sensors; 
2) The development of an embedded operating system for an ultra low power sen-
sor node. Besides the basic ability for process control and resource management, it 
will also possess the capability for software tailing and real time management, the 
ability to provide support for embedded middleware, network protocols and embed-
ded database; 
3) The design of sensor node hardware and system integration. Here low power 
consumption and high reliability design are our main concern; 
4) Hardware and software co-design systematically to manage low power con-
sumption and high reliability. 
Besides the research projects on the basic level for sensor node architecture devel-
opment as mentioned above, other projects on the network communication level is 
also undertaking at ICTCAS, including the study on multi-hop self-contained sensor 
network architecture, the development of related communication protocols, middle-
ware and algorithm, complex power saving modes of operations and so on.   
References 
1. Crossbow, Inc.  Wireless Sensor Network Products. http://www.xbow.com 
2. TinyOS. http://www.tinyos.net 
3. http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust/ 
4. Akyildiz, I.F.; Weilian Su; Sankarasubramaniam, Y.; Cayirci, E.: A survey on sensor net-
works. Communications Magazine, IEEE , V 40  (2002) 102–114 
5. Arici, T. and Altunbasak, Y.: Adaptive Sensing for Environment Monitoring using Wireless 
Sensor Networks. Proc. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), 
Atlanta, GA, (2004) 
6. Mainwaring, A., Culler, D., Polastre, J., Szewczyk, R., Anderson, J.: Wireless Sensor Net-
works for Habitat Monitoring. Proceedings of the 1st ACM international workshop on Wireless 
sensor networks and applications (2002) 
7. http://www.alertsystems.org 
8. Delin, K.A., and Jackson, S.P.: The sensor web: A new instrument comcept. SPIE’s Sympo-
sium on Integrated Optics, 20-26, Jan. (2001) 
9. Schwiebert, L., Gupta, S.K.S., and Weinmann. J.: Research challenges in wireless networks 
of biomedical sensors. In Mobile Computing and Networking, (2001) 151-165 
10. Korhonen, J.Parkka and M.Van GILS: Health monitoring in the home of the future. IEEE 
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine May ( 2003) 66-73 


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