22-02-2011, 10:37 AM
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ABSTRACT
Advances in hardware technology have enabled very compact, autonomous and mobile nodes each having one or more sensors, computation and communication capabilities and a power supply. The emergence of small computing elements provides enriched opportunities to reshape interactions with people and computers appearing computing researches. The present paper ‘Smart Dust’ introduces a new concept on tiny electronic devices designed to capture information about their surroundings that can detect light ,temperature or vibration while literally floating on air.
The idea behind ‘Smart Dust’ is to pack sophisticated sensors, tiny computers and wireless communicators into a cubic- millimeter mote to form the basis of integrated, massively distributed sensor networks. They will be light enough to remain suspended in air for hours. Smart dust requires both evolutionary and revolutionary advances in miniaturization, integration and energy management.
The Smart Dust mote is run by a microcontroller that not only determines the task performed by the mote, but consists of the power to the various components of the system to conserve energy. This paper also deals with certain advantages, limitations and important aspects for all spans of the life.
INTRODUCTION
As the current technologies are focusing on automation and miniaturization. The decreasing computing device size, increased connectivity and enhanced interaction with the physical world have characterized computing’s history. The emergence of small computing elements, with sporadic connectivity and increased interaction with environment, provides enriched opportunities to reshape interactions between people and computer’s and computing researches.
This paper is about “SMART DUST” which is made up from tiny, wireless sensors or “motes” designed to capture mountains of information about their surroundings while literally floating in air. These devices will be smart enough to talk with other sensors yet small enough to fit on the head of a pin. . Each mote is a tiny computer with a power supply, one or more sensors, and a communication system.
Commercially available motes do not yet fit on the head of a pin; some are about the size of a deck of cards and others are as small as a stack of a few quarters. Smart dust motes are typically outfitted with environmental sensors which can monitor things like temperature, humidity, lighting, position, and acceleration. They will be light enough to remain suspended in air for hours. As the motes drift on wind, they can monitor the environment for light, sound, temperature, chemical composition and a wide range of other information and beam that data back to the base station, miles away
ARCHITECTURE
Smart Dust requires both evolutionary and revolutionary advances in miniaturization, integration and energy management. Thus a single Smart Dust mote has a semi-conductor laser diode and microelectromechanicalsystems (MEMS) to build small sensors, optical communication components and power supplies, whereas microelectronics provides increasing functionality in smaller areas with lower area consumption. The power system consists of a thick-film battery, a solar cell with a charge-integrating capacitor for periods of darkness, or both.
Depending on its objective, the design integrates various sensors, including light, temperature, vibration, magnetic field, acoustic, and wind shear onto the mote. An integrated circuit provides sensor- signal processing, communication, control, data storage, and energy management. A photodiode allows optical data reception. There are presently two transmission schemes: passive transmission using a corner- cube retro reflector and active transmission using a laser diode and steerable mirrors.