Channel propagation characteristics of wireless MICAz sensor nodes

Wireless sensor nodes are envisioned to be deployed in the urban and indoor environments. With the advancement of technologies, such as nano-wires and molecular circuits, sensor nodes will become small, cheap and power efficient. At present, many researchers are implementing and developing protocols with MICAz motes. Thus, it is important to understand the propagation characteristics of the MICAz motes. Antenna patterns and interferences are measured. In addition, software models of the mote and environment are created with the CST Microwave Studio and Rhino; afterwards, they are feed into Urbana and are simulated. The simulated and measured results are compared, thus, validating the correctness of models, which are later used to simulate the urban and indoor environments in Urbana.