Multimedia communication in wireless sensor networks

The technological advances in Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and wireless communications have enabled the realization of wireless sensor networks (WSN) comprised of large number of low-cost, low-power multifunctional sensor nodes. These tiny sensor nodes communicate in short distances and collaboratively work toward fulfilling the application specific objectives of WSN. However, realization of wide range of envisioned WSN applications necessitates effective communication protocols which can address the unique challenges posed by the WSN paradigm. Since many of these envisioned applications may also involve in collecting information in the form of multimedia such as audio, image, and video; additional challenges due to the unique requirements of multimedia delivery over WSN, e.g., diverse reliability requirements, time constraints, high bandwidth demands, must be addressed as well. Thus far vast majority of the research efforts has been focused on addressing the problems of conventional data communication in WSN. Therefore, there exists an urgent need for research on the problems of multimedia communication in WSN. In this paper, a survey of the research challenges and the current status of the literature on the multimedia communication in WSN is presented. More specifically, the multimedia WSN applications, factors influencing multimedia delivery over WSN, currently proposed solutions in application, transport, and network layers, are pointed out along with their shortcomings and open research issues.