Millimeterwave Imaging Sensor Nets: A Scalable 60-GHz Wireless Sensor Network

We report first experimental results on the prototype for a novel wireless sensor network that offers both data collection and localization capability. The proposed architecture assumes minimal sensor functionality in analogy to optical imaging, and suits very large-scale sensor networks. The use of millimeterwave beacon, wide in frequency and narrow in space, enables accurate flight-time (and thus distance) and angular location measurement with the employment of noncoherent 2-D matched filtering. Design and characterization of a 60-GHz prototype system, including low-cost passive sensor, is presented.