Sensor network over CATV infrastructure

Abstract

A novel sensor network by using the coaxial cable infrastructure of the CATV network has been demonstrated. The sensor network has been implemented by using the wasted bandwidth of the coaxial cable (900-MHz band) of the CATV network without any change of the existing infrastructure. We have confirmed the performance of the sensor network by measuring the packet error rate (PER) for various data rates and verified that there was no sensitivity degradation due to the transmission over the CATV in frastructure. The maximum transmission distance between the coordinate node and the sensor node of the network was about 364 m w hen 128 sensor nodes were joined the sensor network at the operating data rate of 256 kb/s. The sensor network over the CATV infrastructure inherently guarantees a reliable networking between the nodes with excellent securities. Furthermore it is free from the interferences from other wireless services, which is especially useful in massive wireless environments such as in house or building.