Distributed asset tracking using wireless sensor network

The wireless sensor network (WSN) has provided new paradigm for factory automation applications such as asset tracking, machinery condition monitoring and distributed equipment control. This paper will show a design framework for industrial asset tracking application using WSN. The framework will use some optimization decomposition approach to address the research challenge to keep minimal energy consumption of sensor nodes while maintaining estimation quality. The demo applications based on the framework in a work-in-progress project will show the advantage of building wireless control and monitoring applications using WSN. The paper will also discuss energy consumption performance using different network stacks such as IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee and JenNet based on Jennic product modules.