M2M : Machine 2 Machine

The picture of a future with wireless sensor networks-webs of sensory devices that function without a central infrastructure–is quickly coming into sharper focus through the work of Los Alamos National Laboratory computer scientist Sami Ayyorgun.

Proponents of this new technology see a world with deployments to improve a wide range of operations. Engineers could wirelessly monitor miles of gas and oil pipelines stretching across arid land for ruptures, damage, and tampering. Rescue workers might detect signs of life under the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake, thanks to a network of sensors inside the structure. Armed forces could keep an eye on a combat zone or a vast international border via a sensor network that could promptly provide alerts of any intrusion or illicit trafficking.

“It’s not easy to envision the impacts that sensor networks will make, both socially and economically,” Ayyorgun said. “Like many other researchers, I think they are likely to rival the impact that the Internet has made on our lives.”

Ayyrogun has developed a new communication scheme that brings the reality of these and other applications a step closer. He has shown for the first time that concurrent gains in many measures of performance are possible, including connectivity, energy, delay, throughput, system longevity, coverage, and security.

In recognition of the multifaceted improvements Ayyorgun’s research makes on state-of-the-art technology in this field, his recent paper, “Towards a Self-organizing Stochastic-Communications Paradigm for Wireless Ad-hoc/Sensor Networks,” has been nominated for the Best-Paper Award from a pool of more than 250 manuscripts at the International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Ayyorgun will present the paper at this prestigious meeting of the IEEE beginning September 29, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Like cell phones, wireless sensor networks depend on small, independently powered devices, often called motes, to communicate. But unlike cell phones, which always relay their signal through a base station such as a tower, multihop sensor motes use each other to relay signals, transmitting communiqués through a series of “hops” from one mote to the next. Without the need to build a mesh of base stations that must be wired or have a substantial supply of energy, creating information-bearing ad-hoc networks to suit each unique set of circumstances would significantly reduce costs.