Toward hybrid WSN architectures for monitoring people at home

Abstract

This paper describes the design issues to deploy wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in home application. For this specific WSN application, the global network permits to retrieve multimedia contents such as audio and video streams, still images, and scalar sensor data from the bodies of persons and their living environment. Taking into account home requirements and energy consumption of sensor nodes is a priority. Our proposed architectures are based on a multi-tier model. In this paper, a review of the requirements is provided. Then, the communication architectures for home monitoring are explored, along with their advantages and drawbacks. A design framework to model the behavior of each node in the proposed model is positioned, and energy solutions of the overall network are presented. Finally, the main metrics to consider are introduced.