Towards an optimal solution for environmental protection using Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are widely used in many industrial applications, e.g. Petroleum infrastructure, to provide monitoring visibility by means of wireless technology. This paper focuses on the possible use of WSN for environmental protection against damage caused by illegal destruction of trees, wildfire, and unauthorized access to natural reserves. Several network topologies and modes of monitoring are presented and compared in terms of power consumption, hardware complexity, reliability, latency, and accuracy. The main outcome of the comparative study is the proposal of an optimal WSN system comprising a triple-layer hierarchical-star topology and smart-interruption monitoring mode particularly adapted to the application of environmental protection.