Special Issue on Information Processing and Data Management

in Wireless Sensor Networks

Signal Processing Elsevier Pub.

The rapid progress of wireless communication and embedded micro-sensing MEMS technologies has made wireless sensor networks possible. Wireless sensor networks to be addressed in this special issue are preferably large-scale ones with many inexpensive, tiny sensor nodes, each capable of collecting, processing, and storing environmental information, and communicating with neighboring nodes. In the past, sensors are connected by wired lines. Nowadays, the advantage of ad hoc networking technologies is expected to much simplify the network formation task. Installation and configuration of a wireless sensor network are thus effortless. Many applications of wireless sensor networks have been proposed, including field data collection, remote monitoring and control, smart home, factory automation, security, etc.

Communications in wireless sensor networks are data-centric, with the objective of delivering collected data in a timely fashion. Also, such networks are resource-constrained, in terms of sensor nodes¡¦ processing power, bandwidth communication, storage space and energy. This gives rise to new challenges in information processing and data management in wireless sensor networks. In many applications, users may frequently query information in the network. The tradeoff between updates and queries needs to be addressed. In-network data processing techniques, from simple reporting to more complicated collective communications, such as data aggregation, broadcast, multicast and gossip should be developed. On the other hand, data collected by sensors can intrinsically be viewed as signals. By exploiting signal processing techniques, collective communications can be done in more energy-efficient ways. Moreover, distributed data management schemes are necessary to be devised when sensed data is collected from different sources at different rates.

In view of these challenges, we invite original papers addressing novel information processing and data management techniques involving in disciplines in signal processing, signal detection, communication protocols, networking, embedded computing, data management and distributed processing. Contributions related to algorithms, applications, systems or networking issues are welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

      - Applications of wireless sensor networks

      - Distributed and collaborative signal processing

      - Coding, compression, and information theory

      - Network coverage, connectivity and longevity

      - Communication and networking protocols for wireless sensor networks

      - In-network data processing and aggregation

      - Distributed query processing

      - Detection, classification and tracking

      - In-network data placement and storage in wireless sensor networks

      - In-network data gathering, fusion, and dissemination

      - Location and mobility management

      - Energy and resource management in wireless sensor networks

      - Real-time scheduling of signal processing and information processing

      - Fault tolerance

Form of Manuscript:

Not to exceed 25 double-spaced, 8.5 x 11-inch pages (including figures, tables and references) in 10-12 point font. Number each page. Include an abstract, three to five keywords, and the corresponding author's e-mail address. Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts through the journal's online submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/sigpro ; select "Wireless Sensor Networks" as Article Type.

Important Dates:

     - Submissions due: August 31, 2006

     - Notification of acceptance: January 31, 2007

     - Expected publication: Third Quarter, 2007.