A novel systems design approach to wireless sensor networks for industrial applications

Wireless Sensor Networks are a constantly evolving field spanning the Electronic Engineering and Computer Science domains; where the primary tasks of computation, communication and sensing are combined into ever smaller physical node devices. By utilising advanced multi-hop mesh networking techniques, scores of these nodes can form complex heterogeneous networks, where the efforts of discrete nodes combine to achieve a common goal. This themed Engineering Doctorate portfolio describes a four year period where the Research Engineer, in conjunction with the sponsoring company, The Kelvin Institute Ltd, undertook a range of interlinked research, development and business projects. Each venture was closely aligned to the technical and commercial interests of the sponsor, initiated in late 2003 by a preliminary look at the state-of-the-art and evaluation of early development nodes for location services. The primary project stemmed from this initial research and was undertaken with a collaborating company in the UK rail industry. Results from this work inspired a further project considering the use of security features to provide a new routing methodology for Wireless Sensor Networks and other ad-hoc topologies. In addition to the technical merit and academic contributions to the field, this themed portfolio considers the equally important commercial and business aspects, highlighting notable events and achievements throughout the course of the Engineering Doctorate programme.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

EngD

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Jamieson, Andrew George

• QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• QA76 Computer software
• TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering