A radio-frequency tool for planning wireless sensor networks

We present a software tool able to help planning and deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSN) in an outdoor environment. The tool is based on a ray-tracing algorithm for the evaluation of electromagnetic propagation in a built-up area, and on additional software modules that use the output of the electromagnetic solver to generate nodes' connectivity matrix, to compute individual nodes' coverage areas, and to identify the best locations where gateways can be placed. The presented tool is able to deal with the radio-frequency propagation issues involved in WSN planning and deployment, and it is conceived as a part of an overall WSN deployment, planning, and commissioning & maintenance tool that is being developed in the framework of a European project.