A Wireless Sensor Network Prototype Based on GSM Technology for Remote Data Collection

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks that include large numbers of autonomous sensors are attracting increasing attention over the recent years since it can potentially play an important role in many applications such as healthcare monitoring, environmental/earth sensing, human detection in disasters, etc. This paper presents a novel wireless sensor network prototype based on commercial GSM network for data transfer. Each sensor node integrates with a microprocessor and a GPS module, and therefore, can collect information tagged with the current location. The sensor nodes are powered by electromagnetic energy harvesting technology and therefore eliminates the need for battery replacement. Thanks to the wide coverage of GSM network, such a wireless sensor network is particularly fit for applications where the sensors are spread in expected to operate over a long period, such as environmental monitoring and structural health monitoring.