Monitoring of the aircraft cabin environment via a wireless sensor network

Wireless sensor networks consist of physically distributed autonomous sensor nodes that cooperatively monitor physical or environmental conditions. The key benefit of wireless sensor networks is that they are capable of generating a more complete view of the sensed environment by acquiring larger quantities of correlated data than independent sensor monitors. This makes them ideally suited for applications where a complex environment with many interdependent factors must be monitored. The aircraft cabin is one such example of a highly dynamic environment which necessitates the use of an advanced sensing system. Thus, in order to gain a better understanding of the aircraft cabin environment, a wireless sensor network was designed and prototyped. The network is comprised of a variable number of nodes, and each node is capable of adapting to monitor a wide variety of environmental parameters. The system, as described in previous publications, has now entered the testing phase. The current configuration includes twelve nodes sensing temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and barometric pressure. This paper discusses the results from a series of tests conducted with the prototype hardware/software in a mockup of the 767 cabin environment. Tests involved the use of humidifiers, heaters, and carbon dioxide to simulate changes in the cabin environment.