wilamowski-b-m-irwin-j-d-industrial-communication-systems-2011

11-8 Industrial Communication Systems
by lower tier (densely deployed low-resolution video sensors). Another development was presented in
[WOL02], a first generation smart camera prototype for detecting people and analyzing their movement
in real time. For the implementation, they equipped a standard PC with additional PCI-boards featuring
a TriMedia TM-1300 VLIW processor. A Hi8 video camera is connected to each PCI board for image
acquisition. Now that we have outlined the basic WMSN architecture and the WMSN hardware, we
would like to discuss the main applications that are making WMSN a very interesting field of research.
11.5 applications of WMSNs
With the availability of audio and video sensors, the WMSN has enabled various new applications that
WSN failed to target. The key applications that WMSN targets, some of them are shown in Figure 11.2,
are broadly classified into surveillance, traffic monitoring, personal and health care, habitat monitoring,
and target tracking.
11.5.1 Surveillance
Surveillance is defined as the monitoring of behavior. So, systems surveillance is the process of monitoring
the behavior of people, objects, or processes within systems for conformity to expected or desired
norms in trusted systems for security or social control. The importance of surveillance is increasing day
by day with the increasing violence and terroristic activities around the globe. Traditional surveillance,
using CCTV cameras, has come a long way, but these technologies are limited in terms of intelligence.
Surveillance using WMSN has added advantages: WMSN can provide more detail and precise information,
reducing the cost for network installation, extending the monitoring target areas from indoors of
houses or buildings to the whole residential districts, and easily adapting upon changes of utilizations,
and because a large number of wireless cameras with constrained resources and low costs replace a
few traditional powerful, expensive wired cameras, a wider range of the region can be monitored in
more detail.
Audio and video sensors are used to monitor a targeted place, building, or border for surveillance.
The streaming multimedia content and the advanced signal processing of the captured data enable the
law-enforcement agencies to keep an eye on events. Multimedia sensor node could infer and record
potentially relevant activities (thefts, car accidents, traffic violations) in the form of snapshot or stream
and report to control or base station.
11.5.2 traffic Monitoring
Road traffic monitoring is defined as monitoring the behavior of vehicles (speed, number of vehicles,
etc.) on different lanes of the road. Today road traffic forecasting is quite important so as to cut short
the journey time. Also this helps in fuel saving. In the past, no such traffic monitoring system existed,
but the advent of WMSN technology has opened a new dimension in road traffic measurement and
forecasting. WMSN helps reduce travel time on road by intelligently routing traffic through the leastcongested
areas and results in fuel saving; protecting the environment by reducing pollution; helping to
better utilize the existing road infrastructure and assets by diffusing traffic to alternate routes some of
which may currently be experiencing very low traffic flows; managing abrupt driving behavior on roads
by tracking abrupt drivers, tracking unusual driving patterns, and predicting potential drunk-driving
activity; tracking stolen cars and attempted robbery in real time, etc.; and providing driver-assistance
technology for accident prevention and evidence gathering.
Managing road traffic congestion has become a major issue for many countries, especially in cities
like London and New York [ALG05]; hence, strong infrastructure investments should be made to provide
real-time traffic status for intelligent traffic routing [ALG05,DCIT08,KCITS08]. Some countries
have implemented peak-hour congestion tax, e.g., London, or others are providing free public transport,
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC