Snow crashing the diamond age: mobile devices meet sensor networks

Personal mobile computing devices share many of the same properties of nodes in a sensor network. They are both sensor-rich, power-limited, and wirelessly connected. Indeed, a number of researchers have described sensor networks composed of collections of mobile devices. Sensor networks may be naively characterized as instrumentation of a fixed space or structure. Mobile devices are appliances in the service of an individual. Imagining the potential of these technologies in combination is a matter of proposing applications. However, combined applications must abide by the tight energy and bandwidth constraints imposed on sensor networks. A conventional mobile device risks becoming the bull in a china shop if it requires service from surrounding sensor networks. This talk examines both the potential and limitations of combined applications.