Sensor Networks

by Emily Gertz, Patrick DiJusto

Environmental monitoring projects have taken off with ubiquitous smartphones and low-cost, amateur-friendly microprocessors like Arduino and Raspberry Pi. This book explores both the gear and the human side of the sensing revolution. You’ll learn how networks of people can conceive and build sensor systems, develop best practices for collecting, analyzing, and drawing information from the data, and then use the results to affect real-world issues.

In the process, you’ll explore several issues that many hobbyists, makers, artists, journalists, and activists encounter when building a sensor network, such as: how do you power them? What is "good" versus "bad" data, and how do you tell them apart? How do you collect your data: over the air or by hand from each device? And how do you analyze your data effectively and make it accessible to others?


Learn how sensor network design solutions relate to the problem being solved
Get case studies on significant sensor network projects—how they work and what they’ve revealed
Find answers to tricky questions in scaling a sensor network, such as power supply and data transmission
Discover how to avert GIGO in data analysis: Garbage in, garbage out
Learn about sensor networks and the democratization of data

150 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2013

About the author

I'm a freelance journalist and editor covering the environment, technology, and science. My work has appeared both online and in print, in Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, Whole Living, Dwell, Talking Points Memo, OnEarth Magazine, Grist, and more.

Genres: Environment, science, sustainability, do-it-yourself, technology