Capstone Design Project for a Ubiquitous Sensor Network

Ubiquitous sensor networks (USNs) are one of the most important areas, and thus range of relevant research results have been introduced. Hands-on experiments of a ubiquitous sensor network prototype thus give a great opportunity for students to understand necessary theory and technology, covering embedded system design, network theory, RF (radio frequency) signal processing, and so on, which well exceed the scope of undergraduate study. However, implementation of only a part of functions using well-designed evaluation platforms is not generally appropriate to fulfill students' motivation and achievement. In this paper, we introduce a successful example of an undergraduate capstone design project that designs and implements ubiquitous sensor network base station controller and monitoring program. Our prerequisite courses provide substantial background for embedded system hardware design and implementation, wireless network, and embedded software, so that the students do not suffer from lack of implementation techniques rather than their creativity and challenges for the design goal. In addition, the capstone design project course has one-to-one mentor-mentee relation with companies, specifically with Samsung Data System for this project. As a result, the USN monitoring system is awarded Golden Prize from Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy in 2006, through a national- wide competition.