Wireless Communications & Networking

CHAPTER 20 Wireless Personal Area Networks: Low Rate and High Rate

20.1 Introduction

Wired sensor networks have been around for decades, with an array of gauges measuring temperature, fluid levels, humidity, and other attributes on pipelines, pumps, generators, and manufacturing lines. Many of these run as separately wired networks, sometimes linked to a computer but often to a control panel that flashes lights or sounds an alarm when a temperature rises too high or a machine vibrates too much. Also wired in are actuators, which let the control panel slow down a pump or start a fan in response to the sensor data.

Now advances in silicon radio chips, coupled with cleverly designed routing algorithms and network software are promising to eliminate ...