Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks: Algorithms and Protocols for Scalable Coordination and Data Communication

1.16 IMPLEMENTATION OF SENSOR MOTES

Many different versions of wireless sensor devices (also called motes) have been designed and built by various companies and institutions. The size of these motes varies from the size of a box of matches to the size of a pen tip. The smallest sensors are known as smart dust. We now describe several representative sensor motes.

The MICA mote is built by Crossbow in the United States. It consists of the Atmel Atmega 103L processor which is capable of running at 4MHz, has a 128kB flash memory, a 512kB serial flash, 4kB SRAM and a 4kB EEPROM. The MICA mote is powered by two AA batteries and the lifetime is up to 1 year under very low duty cycles. The mote operates at 916MHz or 413MHz and the transmission rate is 40 kbps with a transmission range of 100 feet. The MICA2 mote is the next generation commercial mote by Crossbow. It has the same processor and memory as the MICA mote but the radio transceiver operates on 433MHz or 868/916MHz with a transmission rate of 38.4 kbps. The outdoor range of the MICA2 mote is up to 500 feet. Both the MICA mote and MICA2 mote use TinyOS, an open-source embedded operating system developed at University of California, Berkeley, to control the mote and its attached sensors. The MICA2 motes accept the same sensor boards as the MICA mote.

Intel developed a mote in which the original modular design of the Berkeley motes are maintained while the data processing and battery life are improved. The Intel mote consists of ...