Ultrasonic Sensor Network System Utilizing New Timing Synchronization of a ZigBee Network for Ecology Observation

Timing synchronization is essential in cases where multiple sensor nodes with ultrasonic sensors are deployed in the same place. This is because ultrasonic sensors should be powered at a precise timing so as to prevent ultrasonic interference. A harmful-birds scaring system utilizing a new timing-synchronization method for a Zig Bee sensor network is proposed. In this method, the processing load for synchronizing the timing of ultrasonic sensors is concentrated at the server. Accordingly, the amount of calculation on each node can be minimized and is unaffected by increasing the number of nodes. Experimental evaluation of the proposed method, applied in an ecology observation by a sensor array, was shown that it sufficiently fulfills the timing requirement for the proposed harmful-birds scaring system.