Because they provide practical machine-to-machine communication at a very low cost, the popularity of wireless sensor networks is expected to skyrocket in the next few years, duplicating the recent explosion of wireless LANs. Wireless Sensor Networks: Architectures and Protocols describes how to build these networks, from the layers of the communication protocol through the design of network nodes. This overview summarizes the multiple applications of wireless sensor networks, then discusses network device design and the requirements that foster the successful performance of these...