Despite the significant increase of applications for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in various
industries, their use in the infrastructure monitoring industry remains low, and this is mainly due to the limitations
introduced by the current technology of wireless nodes. More specifically, wireless nodes currently used
in WSN have significant limitations in energy consumption, communication range, cost, and localization efficiency.
These limitations impede their wide integration in applications such as health monitoring of large infrastructures
(bridges, tunnels, water supply systems, transport networks, etc.), environmental control and
many other industries, requiring deployment of sensor nodes on a large scale. The WiseSPOT research project
developed a new generation of compact low-power wireless sensor nodes that utilize advanced smart antenna
technology for continuous monitoring, localization and tracking of events in the network environment (i.e,
crack detection in large structures, land movements in landslide prediction etc.). This technology is intended
to develop a powerful remote monitoring tool for structural civil engineers that can be used for continuous
monitoring of the health of large structures such as bridges, dams, the transportation and utilities infrastructure.