Research and Education Program Proposal

Detection and Sensing of Environmental and Chemical Substances

using
Ad-hoc Wireless Sensor Networks

Sponsored by:

U.S. Department of Energy

National Nuclear Security Agency

Submitted by:

Southern University Department of Energy Massie Chair of Excellence

Program

Technical Contacts:

Dr. Ernest L. Walker, Principal Investigator Dr. Patrick

Carriere, Massie Chair
Tel: 225-771-4023 Tel: 225-771-
5292
Fax: 225-775-9828 Fax: 225-771-5721
ewalker@engr.subr.edu carriere@engr.subr.edu

Administrative Contact: Authorizing

Officer:

Dr. Habib Mohamadian Dr. Mildred

Smalley
Dean, College of Engineering Vice Chancellor,
Research
Tel: 225-771-5290 Tel: 225-771-
3890
Fax. 225-772-5721 Fax. 225-771-3361
mohamad@engr.subr.edu
MRSmalley1@aol.com

Signed _________________ Date: ______ Signed _____________________ Date:

______

ABSTRACT

2
The Massie Chair of Excellence Program at Southern University proposes a multidisciplinary
research and education program focused in the detection and sensing of environmental and
chemical substances using Ad-hoc Wireless Sensor Networks (AWSN). The program will
be housed in a 112,000 Sq. Ft. building, with state-of-the-art classroom and laboratory
facilities, within the College of Engineering. The program has two primary goals: 1) to
conduct research in areas that are pivotal to the development of technologies that will
contribute to the realization of AWSN which will significantly enhance our nation’s defense
capability as well as the quality of life for its citizens; and 2) to train students in the
development and use of these technologies to assure the sustainability of these efforts into
the future. The objectives for the first five years of the operation of the program are were to:
1) to conduct research in areas that will contribute to the removal of current barriers to
realizing broad application of AWSN; to include, sensing, data fusion, and communications
and networking; 2) to develop sensing system prototypes to demonstrate “proof of concept”
for future implementation of autonomous nano-scale ad-hoc wireless sensing systems for
both military and civilian applications; to include, new or improved, multisensor technology,
data fusion algorithms, wire wireless network protcols and architectures; 3) to train graduate
students in the theory and practice of realizing AWSN through the conduct of research in
support of theses and dissertations and for the development of new undergraduate and
graduate courses; and 4) to train undergraduate students in the practice of realizing AWSN
systems through undergraduate research assistantships and senior (capstone) design
experiences. Since the development of nano-scale wireless sensor systems will require the
integration of: an array of sensors, each with a unique sensing task (multisensors); a
distillation of the information gathered by the sensor array (data fusion), and secure
communication facilities used to exchange information between sensor nodes1 (ad-hoc
wireless network) must be unified into a single autonomous power controlled package that
will, depending upon the application, range in volume from hundreds to thousands of cubic
nanometers. Accordingly, due to varying materials and fabrication techniques necessary for
success in such an endeavor, these subsystems will be investigated and developed as a single
system. The objectives for the second five years is focused on improving performance of
remote sensing systems through development of: 1) sophisticated devices for fast and accurate
sensing; 2) optimal control of unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) trajectories for data acquisition; 3)
and develop high performance novel communication networking. Motivated by the fact that the
overall performance of sensor systems depends critically on the accuracy and sensitivity of
individual sensors, we propose to design, fabricate and characterize several sensors and incorporate
them into communication systems. Given that modern remote sensing systems heavily employ
mobile sensor carriers, such as UAVs , it is crucial to control the trajectories of them in order to
achieve the best performance of acquiring accurate data. For this purpose, we propose a new
approach for designing optimal trajectories of UAVs. Once data is available from the sensors, the
next challenging task is to efficiently and reliably transmit the data to remote locations. To address
the issue of increasing amounts of data (such as image, video), multipath and fading effects, noise
and the limited spectrum in wireless communications of remote sensing, we propose a novel space-
time coding and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication techniques which are
especially suitable for current remote sensing systems.

1
A sensing system with the ability to exchange information with a like or similar
configuration

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 1.0 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Southern University Massie Chair of Excellence Program proposes to

conduct a research and education program in the area of Ad hoc Wireless
Networking and Sensing (AWNS), as applied to the detection and sensing of
environmental and chemical substances. The goals for the program are: 1) to
contribute to the innovation of ad-hoc wireless sensor network technologies
to enhance our nation’s security and defense capability, as well as the
quality of life for its citizens; and 2) to train students in the development and
use of these technologies to assure the sustainability of these efforts into the
future. The objectives for the first five years are: 1) to conduct research in
areas that will contribute to the removal of current barriers to realizing broad
application of AWSN; to include, data fusion, communications and
networking, and sensors; 2) to develop AWSN system prototypes to
demonstrate “proof of concept”; to include, new or improved, fusion
algorithms, sensor fabrication techniques, and secure and efficient wireless
communications facilities on a common 3) to train graduate students in the
theory and practice of realizing AWSN through the conduct of research in
support of theses and dissertations and for the development of new
undergraduate and graduate courses; and 4) to train undergraduate
students in the practice of realizing AWSN systems through the sponsorship
of undergraduate research assistantships and senior (capstone) design
experiences. It should be noted that the above stated goals and objectives
are supportive of the goals for the National Nuclear Security Administration
(NNSA), an agency within the U. S. Department of Energy. In particular, this
proposal addresses goals on Safe Guards and Security and Nonproliferation
& Verification R&D, as set forth in the NNSA Strategic Plan1. Accordingly, in
carrying out the goals and objectives of the proposed research and
education program, collaborations with NNSA organizations which have
missions consistent with our program efforts, will be sought. These
organizations include: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is
1
The NNSA Strategic can be found at http://www.nnsa.doe.gov

4
tasked with Proliferation Detection System development as well as Counter-
proliferation Analysis; and Sandia National Laboratory, which is task with
Biological Weapons Non-proliferation. It is envisioned that, to the extent
possible, both faculty and students associated with this program will
experience periodic fellowships and internships with these organizations.

2.0 MOTIVATION

Since 9/11, security technologies are receiving heightened attention by

researchers, government agencies, military and manufacturers to help
prevent or mitigate another terrorist attack within our country. Technologies
in various stages of development range from more sensitive and versatile
detectors for biological, chemical, and radiological agents to new
diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics against anthrax, smallpox, and other
potential bio-terror agents. Many of these technologies, particularly those
designed to guard against an attack on the nation's infrastructure, have
either already been, or are being, developed within the private sector. The
three key end-user groups are identified as users, or potential users, of
chemical and biological detection technologies. The prime end-user is the
military. The second group is civil defense and law enforcement agencies, or
first responders. These end-users are present at state and local levels and
are tasked with protecting civilians in the event of a wider exposure.
Demand in this sector is expected to rise; due to the terrorist actions against
the United States and in other countries. The third group of end-users is the
civilian sector. These are primarily large companies desiring to protect
employees; companies involved in chemical demilitarization work and
government agencies without first responder duties. Although demand is
expected to increase within the civilian sector, as well, some companies may
still consider the high cost of the devices, translating into the cost-to-benefit
ratio, as too high. One of the main challenges for the private and public
sectors is that most bio-detection programs are still in the research and
development phase. Accordingly, the DoE Massie Chair of Excellence
Program at Southern University proposes to conduct a research and
development and education program over the next five years that will
contribute to the nation’s effectiveness in realizing highly responsive and
pervasive systems of protection for its citizens.

3.0 STATEMENT OF WORK

The Southern University Massie Chair of Excellence Program (SUMCEP)

proposes to conduct research and development and education and outreach
programs in the Detection and Sensing of Environmental and Chemical
Substances using Ad-hoc Wireless Sensor Networks. The research will be
conducted within the facilities of the College of Engineering at Southern
University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The College is largely housed within the
P.B.S. Pinchback Building, a new 112,000 Sq. Ft. building with state-of-the-art

5
classroom and laboratory facilities, including the Massie Chair of Excellence
Laboratory within the Department of Civil Environmental Engineering; as well
as the Wireless Networks & Sensors and Electronic Materials Processing
laboratories, within the Department of Electrical Engineering.

3.1 Research and Development

3.1.1 Data Fusion

Sensor based data fusion is an emerging technology applied to areas such as

automated target recognition, battlefield surveillance, guidance and control
of autonomous vehicles, monitoring of chemical and biological agents,
complex machinery, medical diagnosis, smart buildings and countless other
such applications. The following are specific techniques that will be
employed in our data fusion investigation:

• Association metrics (AM) - a general term for assigning a number

representing a degree of likeness between data sets. AM procedures
include: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a multivariate procedure
which rotates data such that maximum variabilities are projected onto
axes;
• Neural Networks (NN) - a network of many simple units ("processors "),
each possibly having a small amount of local memory; and Fuzzy Logic
(FL), a multi-valued logic that allows intermediate values to be defined
between conventional evaluations; such as, yes/no, true/false,
black/white, etc;
• Distributive Processing – raw sensor signals are sampled and processed
and individual relevant summary statistics are extracted from the raw
signal, stored locally in individual nodes and may be transmitted to other
nodes upon request;
• Goal-oriented, On-demand, Processing – To conserve energy, each sensor
node only performs signal processing tasks that are relevant to the
current query, or in the absence of a query, retreats into a standby mode;
i.e. a sensor does not automatically publish extracted information --- it
forwards such information only when needed;
• Information Fusion – used to infer global information over a certain space-
time region from local observations, Collaborative Signal Processing (CSP)
must facilitate efficient, hierarchical information fusion --- progressively
lower bandwidth information must be shared between nodes over
progressively large regions;
• Multi-resolution Processing – depending on the nature of the query, some
CSP tasks may require higher spatial resolution involving a finer sampling
of sensor nodes, or higher temporal resolution involving higher sampling
rates. Space-time processing using wavelets may also be fruitfully
exploited in our investigation.

6
3.1.2 Wireless Communications and Networking

Research activities in the areas of networking and communication will focus

on the development of new, and or, improved approaches to accomplish
more effective techniques to enable network discovery, network control and
routing, network security, and tasking and querying in ad hoc wireless
networks. In addition, since the effectiveness of some of the above
techniques will be strongly dependent upon the implementation of the
physical transmission facility employed; accordingly, a “bottoms up”
approach will be employed in the investigation of the following processes
defined below.

• Physical Channel Processes - We will investigate, using both computation

a theoretical techniques, the viability of Variable Spreading Factor Zero
Correlation Zone Code Division Multiple Access (VSF-ZCZ CDMA)
sequences, as a method of establishing a secure and agile multiuser
wireless channel.
• Network Discovery Processes – We will investigate, by both computation a
theoretical techniques, network discovery processes, one of which will be
a multiuser variant of the collision avoidance – carrier sense multiple
access (CA-CSMA) access method.
• Medium Access Processes – We will investigate, by both computation a
theoretical methods, medium access methods for gaining access to the
transmission medium for the exchange of data, one of which will be a
multiuser variant of the token-passing access method.
• Higher Level Processes – Novel processes at the higher levels; i.e., link
and network (packet), will also be investigated using both computation a
theoretical methods. The primary focus for these processes will be to
provide an effective transition between the dynamic character of the
physical and medium access processes to a more stable, but responsive,
interface to the end-user, via appropriate transport and application
processes.

3.1.3 Sensors

Our investigations for sensors in an AWSN environment will be directed

toward two types of sensing technologies: 1) a three-dimensional millimeter–
sized multisensor chip, mainly made up of micro-sensors, a nanobattery, and
smart interface(s); such as, microprocessors and A/D converters; 2) water
and airborne biological and chemical sensors. For the proposed designs, we
will be developing the following sensing structures:

3.1.3.1 Multisensor Chip

7
 • The design and fabrication of a PZT (plumbum (lead) zirconate
titanate) film pressure sensor consisting of a PZT (0.5 μm) and LSMO
(0.1 μm) film heterostructure.
• The design and fabrication of a PZT film pressure sensor, designed to
be used as an acoustic sensor by measuring acoustic emission (AE)
wave propagation through PZT films.
• The design and fabrication of an infrared-based optical micro-sensor.
These devices will be fabricated using MEMS-based processing
methods.
• The design and fabrication of a temperature sensor will be
accomplished by using platinum thin films prepared on (5000) SiO2/Si
substrates by DC magnetron sputtering.
• The design and fabrication of a vibration sensor will consist of an array
of mechanical oscillators. This piezoresistive vibration sensor employs
silicon cantilevers with their natural frequencies placed adjacently and
having lengths of about 600-μm.
• The design and fabrication of a chemical sensor will be accomplished
via nanoparticle seeds of iron, cobalt, nickel, copper and silver and are
processed by vapor deposition on prefabricated micro hotplates
followed by annealing at 500°C prior to self-aligned SnO2 deposition.
• The design and fabrication of the interfaces for this multi-sensor will be
addressable, programmable, self-testing, and compatible with a
bidirectional digital bus. The important interfaces that we will use are:
sensor bus; mps; communication interface; microprocessor interface;
ADC; MUX; frequency to digital converter; digital register; and address
detector.
• The design and fabrication of a built-in multisensor lithium-ion
nanobattery. The anode is a multi-walled carbon nanotube array
electrode. The cathode is Sulfur-Carbon nanocomposite with elemental
sulfur incorporated in porous carbon.
• The design and fabrication of the packaging consisting of: the sensors
using eutectic bonding; electrostatic bonding; and low temperature
glass bonding. For holes and micro-chamber fabrication we will be
using methods like laser drilling, and ion beam milling.

3.1.3.2 Water and Airborne Biological and Chemical Sensors

• The development and characterization of sensors that will detect toxic

chemical gases/vapors
• The development and chracterization of an immunosensor, employing
the principles of amperometry, volatametry, fluorometry, and
piezoelectricity, for detection of toxins (simulates of toxins such as
Botulinum toxin and Ricin) and bacteria (heat sterilized bacteria such
as E.coli, Salmonella, Pathogenic Vibrios, and Lysteria).

3.2 Education and Outreach

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Currently, the College of Engineering at Southern University has a Master of
Engineering with Option in environmental engineering and a civil engineering
program with concentration in environmental engineering. In addition, the
College has three state-of-the-art environmental laboratories: 1) water
chemistry; 2) analytical; 3) environmental testing labs that are available to
conduct research and training. These labs are used to provide services and
training to Southern University and community based environmental
programs. The goals of the environmental labs are as follows:
• To provide a focal point for all environmental research for the
university;
• To support various environmental curricula;
• To become a licensed environmental lab recognized on the state,
local and national level;
• To provide services for community based environmental
programs.

The Massie Program at Southern will engage in curriculum development

activities that further the aims of increasing the number of minorities trained
in environmental restoration technology and waste management. Near-term
curriculum development activities will include the definition, planning and
specification of educational goals and objectives that are consistent with
DOE NNSA’s environmental restoration and waste management plans.

3.2.1 K-12 Students

• The Massie Program will assist and provide resources to elementary,
middle, and high schools to infuse environmental issues in science
courses.
• In collaboration with middle/high school educators, Massie Program
researchers will annually formulate & contribute environmental high
school projects and will provide support for materials and supplies.
• The Massie Program will regularly supervise student teams in the
months leading into the local, regional and ultimately the State
competition and participate as judges for the competition as
needed.

3.2.2 Undergraduate Students

• Massie Scholars: The Massie Program will support undergraduate
students, namely Massie Scholars, who will conduct research and other
mentoring activities for K-12 students under the supervision of faculty
members and graduate students. Massie researchers are also committed
to involving undergraduates in ongoing environmental research.
• Capstone Design: Massie researchers will partner with private and public
affiliates to identify, propose, financially support and advise design
projects of a scale and scope appropriate for the Capstone Design on

9
 environmental restoration technology and waste management. The
Massie Program will support a selection of student teams entering
National Design Competitions with projects emphasizing on environmental
restoration technology and waste management.
3.2.3 Graduate Students
• Massie researchers will recruit and support qualified graduate student
candidates, to carry out the core research in support of theses and
dissertations
• Course materials in environmental restoration technology and waste
management will be developed and will part of the elective offerings in
our graduate programs, a selected number of which will be developed for
distance learning offerings.

3.2.3 General Public

• The Massie Program will make the public aware of existing and emerging
environmental restoration technology and waste management. In
facilitating dissemination and public outreach, activities, calls for
participation and achievements will be regularly announced through
newsletters, targeted mailings, and the Massie Program web site.
• The Massie Program will periodically conduct workshops and seminars on
emerging environmental restoration technology and waste management,
via local and distant learning facilities. All educational materials, lesson
plans, videos, and modules developed will be made available to
attendees.
• The Massie Program at Southern will provide continuing education courses
for hazardous materials and waste workers and technologists; community
and professional policy makers and opinion-makers; the news media;
public action groups; non-profit organizations and foundation personnel;
legislators; members of the judiciary; law enforcement personnel; medical
personnel; pre-college teachers; faculty and staff members of higher
education institutions

4.0 APPROACH

4.1 Research and Development

4.1.1 Data Fusion

Data fusion is the process of combining data and knowledge from different
sources with the aim of maximizing the useful information content. It
improves reliability or discriminate capability while offering the opportunity
to minimize the data retained. In the not too distant future, advances in
processor, memory and radio technologies will enable small and
inexspensive sensor nodes capable of wireless communication and
significant computation. The addition of sensing capability to such devices

10
will make distributed microsensing, an activity in which a collection of nodes
coordinated to achieve a large sensing task, possible. This is so-called
multisensor data fusion (also referenced as collaborative signal and
information processing). Such technology can revolutionize information
gathering and processing in many situations. Multisensor data fusion is an
emerging technology applied to the areas such as automated target
recognition, battlefield surveillance, guidance and control of autonomous
vehicles, monitoring of complex machinery, medical diagnosis, and smart
buildings. Techniques for multisensor data fusion are drawn from a wide
range of areas including artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, statistical
estimation, and control theory. Technology aspects of data fusion include
detection (or decision) theory, estimation theory, digital signal processing,
and parametric and non-parametric data fusion techniques (including fuzzy
logic, neural networks, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, statistical
estimation, and control theory, and voting logic).
Technology aspects of data fusion include: (1) detection (or decision) theory:
probabilistic data fusion (probabilistic method, information measures, and
alternatives to probability); (2) estimation theory: the Kalman filter, the
multi-sensor Kalman filter and track -to-track fusion, nonlinear data fusion
methods and multi-sensor multi-target data association; (3) special data
fusion architectures for distributed and decentralized data fusion system and
others; such as, digital signal processing, parametric and non-parametric
data fusion techniques (including fuzzy logic, neural networks, artificial
intelligence, pattern recognition, statistical estimation, and control theory,
and voting logic). The following are specific techniques that will be used in
our data fusion investigation. Association metrics is a general term for
assigning a number representing a degree of likeness in data. The
association metric can measure either the amount to which two pieces of
data are alike or the amount two components of the data are alike across all
data sets. Association metrics are used to gauge the overall structure of data
sets and to provide information on individual data points within a data set.
There are many different ways of defining association metrics, depending on
the structure of the data and the nature of the supposed likeness between
data or its components; for details, see [12]. Principal Component Analysis
(PCA) is a multivariate procedure that rotates data such that maximum
variabilities are projected onto axes. Essentially, a set of correlated variables
are transformed into a set of uncorrelated variables which are ordered by
reducing variability. The uncorrelated variables are linear combinations of
the original variables, and the last of these variables can be removed with
minimum loss of real data. The main use of PCA is to reduce the
dimensionality of a data set while retaining as much information as is
possible. It computes a compact and optimal description of the data set. The
first principal component is the combination of variables that explains the
greatest amount of variation. The second principal component defines the
next largest amount of variation and is independent to the first principal
component. There can be as many possible principal components as there

11
are variables. Neural Network (NN) is a network of many simple processors
("units"), each possibly having a small amount of local memory. The units
are connected by communication channels ("connections") that usually carry
numeric (as opposed to symbolic) data, encoded by any of various means.
The units operate only on their local data and on the inputs they receive via
the connections. The restriction to local operations is often relaxed during
training. Some NNs are models of biological neural networks and some are
not; but historically, much of the inspiration for the field of NNs came from
the desire to produce artificial systems capable of sophisticated, perhaps
"intelligent", computations similar to those the human brain routinely
performs, and thereby possibly to enhance our understanding of the human
brain. Most NNs have some sort of "training" rule whereby the weights of
connections are adjusted on the basis of data. In other words, NNs "learn"
from examples (as children learn to recognize dogs from examples of dogs)
and exhibit some capability for generalization beyond the training data. NNs
normally have great potential for parallelism, since the computations of the
components are largely independent of each other. Some people regard
massive parallelism and high connectivity to be defining characteristics of
NNs, but such requirements rule out various simple models, such as simple
linear regression (a minimal feed forward net with only two units plus bias),
which are usefully regarded as special cases of NNs. In principle, NNs can
compute any computable function, i.e., they can do everything a normal
digital computer can do, or perhaps even more, under some assumptions of
doubtful practicality. In practice, NNs are especially useful for classification
and function approximation/mapping problems which are tolerant of some
imprecision, which have lots of training data available, but to which hard and
fast rules (such as those that might be used in an expert system) cannot
easily be applied. Almost any finite-dimensional vector function on a
compact set can be approximated to arbitrary precision by feed forward NNs
(which are the type most often used in practical applications) if you have
enough data and enough computing resources. Clustering is the process of
grouping together similar data items. Numerically, this is traditionally done in
one of two ways. Hierarchical clustering proceeds from a provisional initial
clustering, and iteratively merges and/or splits clusters until a required
degree of similarity holds for the elements of the clusters. There are a
variety of rules for deciding which clusters are merged/split and how.
Partitional clustering attempts to cluster the set directly, in a manner that
depends on a set of parameters. These parameters are then adjusted to
optimally satisfy a chosen criterion of separation and compactness of
clusters. There are, in each of the two approaches, a great number of
possible implementations. This reflects the lack of a definitive meaning of a
cluster. Just as there are many lines we could fit two a two-dimensional set of
points (and we will typically choose one, say the least-squares fit, using our
judgment) so there will be many possible clusterings of data. Fuzzy Logic is
basically a multivalued logic that allows intermediate values to be defined
between conventional evaluations like yes/no, true/false, black/white, etc.

12
Fuzzy logic is a superset of conventional (Boolean) logic that has been
extended to handle the concept of partial truth - truth values between
"completely true" and "completely false". Fuzzy logic is a way of interfacing
inherently analog processes that move through a continuous range of values,
to a digital computer, that likes to see things as well-defined discrete
numeric values. Furthermore, fuzzy logic is well suited to low-cost
implementations based on cheap sensors, low-resolution analog-to-digital
converters, and 4-bit or 8-bit one-chip microcontroller chips. Such systems
can be easily upgraded by adding new rules to improve performance or add
new features. In many cases, fuzzy control can be used to improve existing
traditional controller systems by adding an extra layer of intelligence to the
current control method.

13
The technical approaches for data fusion are depended on the ac hoc
(sensing) networks adopted for (wireless) communication, but power
consumption is a critical consideration in a wireless sensor network. The
limited amount of energy stored at each node must support multiple
functions, including sensor operations, on-board signal processing, and
communication with neighboring nodes. Thus, one must consider power-
efficient sensing modalities, low sampling rates, low-power signal
processing algorithms, and efficient communication protocols to
exchange information among nodes. To facilitate monitoring of a sensor
field, including detection, classification, identification, and tracking of
targets, global information in both space and time must be collected and
analyzed over a specified space-time region. However, individual nodes
only provide spatially local information. Furthermore, due to power
limitation, temporal processing is feasible only over limited time periods.
This necessitates collaborative signal processing (CSP) between nodes to
process the space-time signal. Center activities relating to data fusion will
focus on the development of new and or improved approaches to
accomplish more effective algorithms for (decentralized) data fusion with
following desirable features: Distributive processing – Raw signals are
sampled and processed at individual nodes but are not directly
communicated over the wireless channel. Instead, each node extracts
relevant summary statistics from the raw signal, which are typically of
smaller size. The summary statistics are stored locally in individual nodes
and may be transmitted to other nodes upon request. Goal-oriented, on-
demand processing – To conserve energy, each node only performs
signal processing tasks that are relevant to the current query. In the
absence of a query, each node retreats into a standby mode to minimize
energy consumption. Similarly, a sensor node does not automatically
publish extracted information --- it forwards such information only when
needed. Information fusion – To infer global information over a certain
space-time region from local observations, CSP must facilitate efficient,
hierarchical information fusion --- progressively lower bandwidth
information must be shared between nodes over progressively large
regions. For example, (high bandwidth) time series data may be
exchanged between neighboring nodes for classification purposes.
However, lower bandwidth CPA (closest point of approach) data may be
exchanged between more distant nodes for tracking purposes. Multi-
resolution processing – Depending on the nature of the query, some CSP
tasks may require higher spatial resolution involving a finer sampling of
sensor nodes, or higher temporal resolution involving higher sampling
rates. For example, reliable detection may be achievable with a relatively
coarse space-time resolution, whereas classification typically requires
processing at a higher resolution. Multi-resolution space-time processing
using wavelets may be fruitfully exploited in this research effort.

4.1.2 Wireless Communications and Networking

14
4.1.2.1 Physical Processes2 - In order to mitigate some of the current
difficulties associated with communications in an AWSN environment
involving physical processes, we propose to begin our investigations in the
communication and networking area on a recently discovered spread
spectrum coding method which will be here called variable spreading factor
zero correlation zone code division multiple access (VSF-ZCZ-CDMA) [17, 19].
The motivation for this approach lies in the fact that a) these sequences
have near ideal correlation characteristics within a symmetrical region
around zero lags, called the zero correlation zone (ZCZ), which to a
significant extent, removes all multiple access interference (MAI) and “far-
near” effects from the detection process, assuming the detection is
accomplished under quasi-synchronous conditions (within the ZCZ); b) the
size of the ZCZ can be easily adapted in response to time-varying channel
characteristics; c) the lengths (spreading factors) of the coding sequences
can be easily adapted, in response to time-varying channel characteristics.
Prior work indicates significant performance improvement, over conventional
(Walsh-Hadamard) sequences, in a mobile communications environment. We
are further motivated to investigate this approach because, due to the
significantly smaller cell sizes for AWSN (tens of square meters), as
compared to cell sizes for mobile communications (tens of square
kilometers), resulting in smaller dynamic ranges for multipath and fading
effects, significantly better performance is expected when ZCZ sequences
are employed in an AWSN environment. Additionally, this performance
improvement is expected to be realized with relatively low complexity
receiving structures. In the following we provide background for our interest
in VSF-ZCZ-CDMA coding for physical process realization.
Generally, in multiuser CDMA systems it is desirable to have a coding
scheme that will provide pure orthogonality with respect to correlation
characteristics of the coding sequences; i.e., the autocorrelation responses
should have an impulsive response at zero lags, and zero response
elsewhere; and the cross-correlation responses would have zero response for
all lags. These correlation characteristics would provide for very effective
multiuser communications using either synchronous or asynchronous
detection. This level of performance is due to the fact that the main sources
of impairment; i.e., multi-access interference (MAI) and the near-far problem
(NFP), would be non-existent. Recently, researches have reported the
discovery of a class of zero correlation zone (ZCZ) sequences which can
achieve quasi-orthogonality and is part of a class of codes referred to as
Generalized Orthogonal Sequences (GOS) Fan [9] [19] [20]. These sequences
show significant performance improvement over Walsh-Hardamard
sequences in a mobile wireless environment [17]. In general, ZCZ code
sequences have a continuous zero periodic cross-correlation function (CCF)
2
In this work, we have avoided using the traditional architectural terminology which refer to
“layers”, we use “processes” to emphasize a more contemporary approach to architecture,
as it relates to ad-hoc wireless sensor networks.

15
zone in its central portion, including the zero lags response. These sequences
also have a continuous zero periodic auto-correlation function (ACF) zone in
the same lags region, except that at zero lags which has a normalized
response of 1. This feature will allow a CDMA system to be operated in quasi-
synchronous mode, due to the fact that MAI and NFP will be significantly
reduced, if time delay variations within the system are limited to less than
the ZCZ.

4.1.2.2 Medium Access Control Processes - Network discovery and medium

access processes for AWSN have be studied by many researchers [14, 15,
16], employing both contention and non-contention techniques. However, for
AWSN, which can have large numbers (tens – hundreds) of sensor nodes
within a cell, can make contention techniques very inefficient. For this
reason, the proposed research seeks to separate the discovery and medium
access processes. However, for AWSN, which can have a large number (tens
– hundreds) of sensor nodes within a given cell, can render contention
techniques very inefficient. The proposed research seeks to separate the
discovery and data exchange functions of the medium access control
process3. This approach is motivated by the assumption that for AWSN to
achieve the highest data utilization and power efficiency possible under all
traffic mixes (discovery and data), medium access control methods must be
capable of allocating the required mix of transmission resources,
appropriately. Accordingly, the proposed network discovery process is a
multi-user variant of collision avoidance – carrier sense multiple access (CA-
CSMA) method while the medium access process is a multi-user variant of
the token-passing protocol. Accordingly, we propose that the discovery
process be allotted up to n, (where n is M>n≥1, n=1, is default) asynchronous
multi-user ZCZ-VSF-CDMA channels (sequences) and is adapted to the
intensity of discovery arrivals. The medium access process, for data
transmission, consists of an M-n multi-user ZCZ-VSF-CDMA channels, where
M is the total number of ZCZ sequences in the code. The basis architecture
consists of the following: a) a Sensor Node, is a network node that collects
data from sensors, processes (fuses) the collected data, and interchanges it
with neighboring sensor nodes inside, or outside its Cell; b) a Cell is a
collection of sensor nodes, under the control of a super sensor node call the
Monitor; c) a Monitor is a sensor node with added function for managing
access and connection control within a given cell, or within nearest neighbor
cell (All sensor nodes are capable of being a Monitor, but only one Monitor is
active within a cell at any given time). The establishment of a monitor is part
of the network discovery process.
A summary of the network discovery process to be investigated is initiated:
when a sensor node becomes active due to power-up, or wake-up (arises
from hibernation); when there is a loss or interruption of Monitor function
3
Here we have used the word “process” to avoided the more conventional term “layer” to a
more contemporary
view of describing this function in an AWSN environment.

16
within a given cell, or within a nearest neighbor cell; or when a sensor node
migrates into the domain of one other, or more, cells. A monitor is
established via a claim monitor process (CMP); initiated under the following
conditions: when a monitor node is not identified during the network
discovery process (NDP); when a monitor node migrates into one other, or
more cells; or when a monitor become inactive (via power-down, hibernation,
or degraded link performance). A summary of the medium access process to
be investigated is initiated when: a sensor node requests a channel (code
sequence) assignment or permission to transmit data over an assigned
channel; a monitor wishes to respond to a channel assignment request, to
transmit over an assigned channel, discover cell connectivity, or to exchange
network statistics with monitors from neighboring cells. The higher level
processes; i.e., link and network (packet) processes, will also be
investigated. The primary focus for these processes will be to provide an
effective transition between the dynamic character of the physical and
medium access processes to the more stable, but responsive, interface to
the end-user, via appropriate transport and application processes.

4.1.3 Sensors

Our investigations for sensor in an AWSN environment will be directed

toward a three-dimensional millimeter–sized multisensor chip. The chip
includes a pressure/acoustic micro sensor, an optical micro sensor, a
temperature micro sensor, a vibration micro sensor, a chemical nano sensor
and a nano-battery. Development of such micro sensors is to design and
carry out miniaturization and integration of several complex structures on a
single chip powered by a Li-ion battery. The present design approach will,
thus, be a three dimensional sub-millimeter sized multi sensor chip which will
respond to several different physical and chemical variables simultaneously
and would be coupled with smart interfaces like microprocessors and A/D
Converters to help simulate webs of sensors and networks for information
processing. These aspects are very important for stability and support
operations as well as for development of anti-terrorism strategies. The
architecture of a Multi Sensor Chip (MSC) comprises of four subsystems: a) a
power supply subsystem which consists of the battery and the dc-dc
converter which powers the rest of the system; b) a sensing subsystem that
links the node to the physical phenomena and consists of a group of micro or
nano sensors; c) an analog to digital converter (ADC) which converts the
analog outputs of the sensors to digital data; and d) a computing subsystem
consisting of a microcontroller unit for processing the digital data.
Sensor nodes are battery driven and hence they must have a lifetime on the
order of months to years without battery replacement or charging. There
have been many recent efforts in the area of energy-aware communications
like TRAMA (Traffic-Adaptive Media Access) protocol, FPS (Flexible Power
Scheduling), Duranet, TinyOS, T-MAC, and S-MAC. Extensive literature review
has been done which will enable us to perform aggressive energy

17
optimization [34-37], and optimization of architectural and algorithmic
approaches of the MSC [33, 38, 39]. There has also been extensive study of
areas like integrated multisensors for humidity, contamination
measurement, and habitat monitoring [40-44] which has helped us to
proceed better with a well-structured design methodology. There have been
efforts in exploring the limits of power saving, but no significant work has
been done to secure the protocol against malicious attackers. We will try to
address this security issue.
A built-in lithium-ion battery will be provided for the multisensors. The anode
is a multi-walled carbon nanotube array electrode, since these electrodes
exhibit high current density due to their high surface area and ordered
electrode configuration. The cathode is Sulfur-Carbon nanocomposite with
elemental sulfur incorporated in porous carbon. Nanoporous dielectric
membranes made from anodically oxidized aluminum foil can be used for
storing the gel electrolyte (PDVF-HFP copolymer and nano-SiO2 powder
matrix containing a 70 wt% liquid electrolyte of PC-EC-DEC (1:4:5, v/v)
containing 1 M LiPF6) of the battery. The battery design is expected to yield
high current density (~500 mA/cm2) and high reversible capacity (~440
mAh/g), despite being very small in size. The dc-dc converter will be
responsible for providing a constant supply voltage to the rest of the sensor
node while utilizing the complete capacity of the battery. The efficiency
factor associated with the converter plays a big role in determining battery
lifetime [30]. A low efficiency factor leads to significant energy loss in the
converter, reducing the amount of energy available to other sensor node
components. Hence we shall focus on achieving a high efficiency factor.
Sensor transducers translate physical phenomena to electrical signals. We
will develop a variety of sensors that respond to temperature, light intensity,
sound, pressure, vibration, and corrosion. For pressure/acoustic sensing we
propose a thin PZT (plumbum (lead) zirconate titanate) film pressure sensor
consisting of a PZT (0.5 μm) and LSMO (0.1 μm) film heterostructure. The
PZT is deposited by Sol-gel process or pulsed laser ablation of stoichiometric
ceramic targets PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 and, Pt and Au electrode on the top and
bottom of the PZT film, respectively. The Pt/PZT/Au thin-film capacitor
exhibits a good piezoelectric constant, which is as high as 67 pC/N [24]. The
resolution of the thin PZT film pressure microsensor is about 1 mbar. PZT film
pressure sensor is also designed to be used as an acoustic sensor by
measuring acoustic emission (AE) wave (SAW) propagation through PZT films
[25]. An Infra red-based sensor is proposed as the optical microsensor. These
devices are fabricated using MEMS-based processing methods. An IR sensor
having a 55-μm square refraction mirror is built onto the silicon wafer.
Infrared radiation emitted by the object reaches the wafer, and is converted
into heat by the IR sensor. On application of heat, the sensor bimorph
deforms and expands, so that the refraction angle of the mirror changes is
based on heat intensity [26]. The sensing of temperature will be
accomplished by platinum thin films prepared on (5000Ả) SiO2/Si substrates
by DC magnetron sputtering. The Platinum Resistance Thermometer as a

18
thermo-resistive device has excellent characteristics such as high accuracy,
long-term stability, wide temperature range, good linearity and rapid
response time [27]. A vibration sensor is proposed consisting of an array of
mechanical oscillators. This piezoresistive vibration sensor employs silicon
cantilevers with their natural frequencies placed adjacently and having
lengths of about 50 – 600μm [28]. Finally, the proposed chemical sensing
approach will consist of nanoparticle seeds of iron, cobalt, nickel, copper and
silver will be processed by vapor deposition on prefabricated micro hotplates
followed by annealing at 500°C prior to self-aligned SnO2 deposition.
Significant control of SnO2 grain sizes, ranging between 20 and 121 nm, is
achieved based on the seed-layer type. Smaller grain diameters result in
high sensitivity in 90-ppm ethanol illustrating the benefits of nanoparticle
seeding for chemical sensing [29]. A 10-bit data-acquisition system that
combines a 5-channel multiplexer, high-bandwidth track/hold, and serial
interface with high conversion speed and ultra-low power consumption ADC
will be designed. This will convert the analog electrical signals to digital
signals coming from the output of five sensors (pressure/acoustic micro
sensor, optical micro sensor, temperature micro sensor, vibration micro
sensor, chemical sensor).
MCU is responsible for providing intelligence to the sensor node, for
controlling the sensors and for the execution of communication protocols and
signal processing algorithms on the gathered sensor data. The proposed
MCU will be addressable, programmable, self-testing, and compatible with a
bidirectional digital sensor bus. The choice of MCU should be dictated by the
application scenario in order to achieve a close match between the
performance level offered by the MCU and that demanded by the
application. Further, MCUs usually support various operating modes,
including Active, Idle, and Sleep modes, for power management purposes.
Each mode is characterized by a different amount of power consumption.
Thus, the power consumption levels of the various modes, the transition
costs, and the amount of time spent by the MCU in each mode all have a
significant bearing on the total energy consumption (battery lifetime) of the
sensor node. Since we have studied the power-performance characteristics
of MCUs extensively by analyzing the several techniques that are available
to estimate the power consumption of these embedded processors [31],
[32], we will make a good choice of the MCU appropriate for our proposed
system.

4.2 Education and Outreach

The Massie Program at Southern will establish working partnerships among

its constituents including K-12 teachers, college students (undergraduate
and graduate), researchers, and scientists. It will support a collection of
activities that foster an environment where every participant becomes both
a teacher/mentor and a student, and where teamwork is emphasized so that
everyone contributes and everyone learns about sensor based technologies.

19
A website will be developed and built for the purpose of showcasing the
research and education activities of the Southern University program. The
website will be built and maintained by both undergraduate and graduate
Massie Fellows, under the direction and oversight of Masse Researchers and
College of Engineering Information Technology Staff.

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