A hardware library for sensors/actuators interfaces in sensor networks

Abstract

Sensor networks have reached a great relevance during the last years. The idea is to use a high number of nodes measuring different physical parameters in several environments, which implies different research challenges (low power consumption, communication protocols, platform hardware design, etc). There is a tendency to use modular hardware nodes in order to make easier rapid prototyping as well as to be able to redesign faster and reuse part of the hardware modules. One of the main obstacles for rapid prototyping is that sensors present heterogeneous interfaces. In this paper, a VHDL library for sensors/actuators interfaces is proposed in order to have a set of different sensor interfaces that include the most common in the sensors/actuators world, enabling a rapid connection to a new sensor/actuator.