無線存取點與無線感測網路之整合配置研究

Abstract

在現今的無線感測網路(WSN, Wireless Sensor Networks)應用中，使用感測資料的用戶，都在Internet網路上，因此需要一個網路閘道器銜接WSN與Internet，以進行資料交換。目前銜接WSN與Internet的網路閘道器，皆是使用一般個人電腦，因此存在著成本貴、體積大、耗電量高與設定環境手續繁雜的缺點，使得WSN應用的普及性受到影響。如何改善以上缺失，是一項十分有意義的研究。本論文嘗試修改無線區域網路存取點(WLAN AP, Wireless Local Area Networks Access Point)之韌體，使其能銜接WSN與Internet兩異質性網路。我們稱此能銜接WSN與Internet之新穎WLAN AP為WiZAP (WiFi ZigBee Access Point)。WiZAP所提供的計算與記憶體資源雖不如個人電腦豐沛，但其成本低廉、體積小且耗電量低，並可使用WLAN AP既有的網路功能，大大提升了在WSN應用中使用此網路閘道器的意願。本論文提出WiZAP整合性架構，以模組化與低成本的方式銜接WSN與Internet，提供使用者Internet服務並整合WSN功能。最後藉由調整WiFi之MAC層參數，我們提出避免Zigbee與WiFi共存時所發生的資料碰撞問題的一些觀察。我們將本架構與相關的研究做比較分析，說明其具有高彈性、低成本、建置方便及低耗能的優點。

In nowadays applications of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), the client makes use of sensing data in Internet. A network gateway is required to connect WSN to Internet for data exchanging. In conventional studies, they usually apply personal computer as the network gateway. This model has shortcomings in high cost, large size, and high energy consumption. It is a meaningful research issue to make an improvement on these shortcomings. This thesis tries to modify the firmware of a Wireless Local Area Networks Access Point (WLAN AP), and make it as the network gateway of WSN and Internet. We call this WLAN AP as WiZAP (WiFi ZigBee Access Point). Even though the computation ability and memory resource provided by WiZAP is not as sufficient as PC, WiZAP has low cost, small size, and low energy consumption. This thesis introduces the WiZAP architecture that provides modularity and low cost methods to connect WSN with Internet and supply users not only Internet services but also WSN functions. By adjusting the parameter of MAC layer in WiFi, we propose some observations to avoid data collision when Zigbee and WiFi coexist. We make a comparable analysis of research associated with the architecture, and show the advantage such as high flexibility, low cost, convenient to build, and low energy consumption.