Wireless sensors in network based collaborative environments

Use of telecollaboration (TC) systems based on sensor networks in education is an emerging field of research. It is feasible to connect many small wireless micro-sensors ("smart dust"), PDAs and cellular phones into a network that extends a TC education system. It is expected that those sensors collect and fuse various data and transmit the information through the network for enhanced TC educational outcomes. However, the traditional challenges remain the same. This includes the ability of managing resources such as: power, bandwidth, distances, performance of the sensors and related hardware. At the heart of the sensor network paradigm are the human factors. We realize that the concept of the human research is native to such emerging technologies as wireless sensor networks, sensor enabling facilities, ubiquitous computing devices and all IP next generation networks that are challenging the rationale of traditional information fusion systems. The technology has reached a level of maturity at which it is reasonable to discover sensors based on the context awareness, pertinence, query for appropriate data, and fuse it using applicable fusion rules, computing and communication infrastructure. In this paper, we introduce innovative concepts for support of TC solutions, identify design, development methodologies as well as challenges for TC systems.