Resumen
Wireless sensor networks are emerging as both an important new tier in the information technology ecosystem and a rich domain of active research involving hardware and system design, networking, distributed algorithms, programming models, data management, security, and social factors. Sensor networks provide a new kind of instrument, call it a macroscope, that enables people to observe and interact with physical phenomena in real time at a fidelity that was previously unobtainable. Such pervasive instrumentation will be of great value in a range of applications, including understanding ecosystem dynamics, setting land-use policy, protecting property, efficiently operating and managing machinery and vehicles, establishing perimeter and building security, protecting packages and containers, monitoring supply chain management, and helping deliver health care. To fully realize the vision of the embedded Internet, the related devices must be small, unobtrusive, and expendable, and the network of potentially thousands of nodes must be cost-effective to develop, deploy, program, utilize, and maintain.