WSN Protocols and Security Challenges for Environmental Monitoring Applications: A Survey

In recent years, communication technology has improved exponentially, partly owing to the locations and nature of the deployment of sensor nodes. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) comprise these sensor nodes and can provide real-time physical and environmental measurements. The sensor nodes have limited power, which reduces their lifespan, especially when placed in human-inaccessible locations. This paper reviews energy-efficient protocols for environmental monitoring applications and energy harvesting-wireless sensor networks. The dynamic deployment and communication challenges associated with environmental monitoring applications (EMAs) make this paper take into account the WSN protocol stack, focusing on the physical layer, network layer (routing), and medium access control (MAC). The paper will delve deeper into the security challenges of deploying sensor nodes for environmental monitoring applications (EMAs). The paper further describes scientific approaches that churn out innovative and engineering applications that must be followed to improve environmental monitoring applications.