TY - JFULL AU - Mohamed K. Watfa PY - 2008/1/ TI - Practical Applications and Connectivity Algorithms in Future Wireless Sensor Networks T2 - International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering SP - 2757 EP - 2767 VL - 2 SN - 1307-6892 UR - https://publications.waset.org/pdf/11100 PU - World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology NX - Open Science Index 24, 2008 N2 - Like any sentient organism, a smart environment relies first and foremost on sensory data captured from the real world. The sensory data come from sensor nodes of different modalities deployed on different locations forming a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Embedding smart sensors in humans has been a research challenge due to the limitations imposed by these sensors from computational capabilities to limited power. In this paper, we first propose a practical WSN application that will enable blind people to see what their neighboring partners can see. The challenge is that the actual mapping between the input images to brain pattern is too complex and not well understood. We also study the connectivity problem in 3D/2D wireless sensor networks and propose distributed efficient algorithms to accomplish the required connectivity of the system. We provide a new connectivity algorithm CDCA to connect disconnected parts of a network using cooperative diversity. Through simulations, we analyze the connectivity gains and energy savings provided by this novel form of cooperative diversity in WSNs. ER -