Optical wireless sensor network design for a conducting chamber

Abstract

Now a day’s majority of the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are based on Radio Frequency (RF) communication technology. But RF when used in an environment like that of metallic, conducting chamber exhibits large amount of interference due to multipath effects which degrades the performance of the sensor network. Infrared (IR) communication technology can be used in sensor networks which is capable of overcoming the drawbacks exhibited by RF. Suitable IR link can provide high efficiency and mobility. A wireless sensor network has to be deployed inside a metallic chamber known as Tokamak, used to produce controlled nuclear fusion. The sensor network should be capable of capturing images and monitoring environmental parameters viz. temperature and light intensity inside the chamber and transmitting the data outside. One such design of sensor network based on IR communication technology has been presented in this thesis. A design of sensor node with a camera, temperature sensor, light intensity sensor and IR transceiver interfaces is presented. Also a design of an optical gateway to transmit the data outside the metallic chamber is presented.