Wireless multimedia sensor networks testbeds and state-of-the-art hardware: A survey

Abstract

In recent years, Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) attracted researchers' attention. This has led to an advancement made at both levels: hardware design and open source libraries to capture and process sound and image on sensor motes. WMSNs have the potential for real time object detection and recognition. It can be used to locate misplaced items, assisted living, helping people with cognitive impairments, species detection, and provide real time images for many other surveillance-based application. The WMSN research domain is relatively new, therefore many people fail to fully recognize the potential of WMSNs. In this paper, we provide a detail description of various state-of-the-art WMSNs testbeds. We categorize these testbeds in two classes: hardware-based testbeds and software-based testbeds. Furthermore, we list state-of-the-art in wireless multimedia sensor motes hardware. The objective of this paper is threefold: unleash the potential application areas of WMSNs, attract new researchers to the WMSNs domain, and provide a guideline for proper hardware selection keeping in mind the type of research that needs to be carried out. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.