Environmental Monitoring and Sensing

Workgroup 3 brings together two distinctive communities that represent the two fundamental parts of a WSN:

• the community of sensors, for the development of devices to be integrated into a detection network for monitoring environmental parameters;
• the embedded systems community, for the design of an efficient and autonomous WSN (powered by MFCs) for the real-time transmission of sensor data.

This WGs aims at bridging the gap between these two communities by collaborative development solutions focused on a real case of a holistic system : an Autonomous Ambient Intelligence Architecture for Environmental Rehabilitation.

aims or objectives

• Use BES as permanent and renewable battery for Wireless Sensor Networks and Ubiquitous Environment Architecture: in particular study of MFCs configuration for several scenarios.

• Investigate the sensing capabilities of BEs from physical and chemical properties to optimized hardware platform, supporting specific embedded operating systems.

• Integrated MFC powered Lab-On-Chip systems dedicated to small quantities of substances (medical and environmental applications).

In fact, in monitoring activity, we consider:

1) to use the BES as power supply allowing effective operation of autonomous efficient WSN. So, as described in the Memorandum of Understanding, One WG3 activity will be focused on the development and testing of autonomous efficient WSN. The scientific field is in the contest of low power communications.

2) to use the BES as detector. These activities will be performed for evaluation of sensing capabilities of BESs, optimization of hardware platforms, operating systems and MFCs configuration for several scenarios.

3)  to include activities of the design of innovative sensors like System-On-Glass for Lab-On-Chip powered by MFC. These systems, currently designed for medical tests, allow in-situ and real-time the detection of small quantities of substances, like for acid rain evaluation. One challenge is the reduction of power consumption requested for operation of these devices in order to can use MFC as power source.

The title of first task is “autonomous efficient WSN”.