A Review of the state-of-the-art Ubiquitous Multimedia Sensor Networks

The recent rise in the demand to incorporate multimedia contents such as audio/video and still images over Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has led to the development of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). Thus several new applications have arisen such as e-Health, environmental monitoring, video surveillance, automated transport systems, traffic control, smart cities and smart grids, home automation etc. The International Telecommunications Unit (ITU) recommendation Section for Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) presents the requirements for a platform to numerous number of life services and applications. This envisions a system that will connect all devices on the network ubiquitously with collaborative efforts of many small wireless multimedia and scalar sensors to heterogeneously provide a smart web. This requirement has thrown several new challenges to wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we have given a comprehensive discussion of the Wireless Multimedia Sensor Network (WMSNs) and Ubiquitous Sensor Networks (USNs) architectures and outlined their design challenges. The paper will give the reader a clear view of the researches that are ongoing in multimedia systems ubiquitous sensor networks, and shed the light on the current challenges and future trends. We also hope it will foster discussions and new research ideas among its researchers