| | 46 | The wireless communication team is currently taking part in a couple of large wireless sensor network (WSN) projects; both are being conducted in collaboration with utility companies and both are concerned with infrastructure monitoring. The PIPES project is primarily investigating how to monitor the local water distribution network with the aim of improving leak detection and location while the WINES project is primarily interested in the monitoring of civil infrastructure such as tunnels and bridges. Various opportunities exist to undertake short projects within the context of the multidisciplinary research teams undertaking these projects. We will now briefly describe some potential areas for research projects. |
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| | 48 | One of our aims is to develop improved WSN planning, deployment and management tools that will be flexible enough to address various network architectures, e.g., star and mesh. They will also be extensible such that they can be applied to both large and small scale WSNs. Network optimization with constraints such as battery life maximization, installation cost minimization or total cost of ownership are of interest. |
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| | 50 | Propagation measurement and modelling provide the fundamental knowledge required in order to predict the performance of radio networks. Radio channel measurements are central to the determination of accurate empirical path loss models and for the characterisation of signal fading with the use of appropriate probability distribution functions. In addition, the use of Electromagnetic (EM) modelling to predict path loss and signal variability is also being investigated. The determination of novel techniques to reduce the computational burden of such models is of considerable interest. |
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| | 52 | The use of frequency or space (i.e., antenna) diversity techniques to improve WSN link performance has received little attention to date. Consequently, we would like to develop physical and media access control (MAC) layers that are able to harness the available diversity and so deliver major improvements in WSN link quality. |
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| | 54 | Interested students should contact Dr. Ian Wassell. |
