A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed autonomous sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, humidity, motion or pollutants and to cooperatively pass their data through the network to a main location. The more modern networks are bi-directional, also enabling control of sensor activity.
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Sampling (signal processing)
In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave (a continuous signal) to a sequence of samples (a discrete-time signal). A sample refers to a value or set of values at a point in time and/or space. A sampler is a subsystem or operation that extracts samples from a continuous signal.
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Bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (sometimes written bitrate, data rate or as a variable R) is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is quantified using the bits per second (bit/s or bps) unit, often in conjunction with an SI prefix such as kilo- (kbit/s or kbps), mega- (Mbit/s or Mbps), giga- (Gbit/s or Gbps) or tera- (Tbit/s or Tbps).
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Estimation theory
Estimation theory is a branch of statistics and signal processing that deals with estimating the values of parameters based on measured/empirical data that has a random component. The parameters describe an underlying physical setting in such a way that their value affects the distribution of the measured data. An estimator attempts to approximate the unknown parameters using the measurements.
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Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider. With streaming, the client browser or plug-in can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than to the medium itself.
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Sensor
A sensor (also called detector) is a converter that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument. For example, a mercury-in-glass thermometer converts the measured temperature into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated glass tube. A thermocouple converts temperature to an output voltage which can be read by a voltmeter. For accuracy, most sensors are calibrated against known standards.
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Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients". The clients either run on the same computer or connect through the network. In most common use, server is a physical computer dedicated to running one or more such services, to serve the needs of users of the other computers on the network.
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Load (computing)
In UNIX computing, the system load is a measure of the amount of work that a computer system performs. The load average represents the average system load over a period of time. It conventionally appears in the form of three numbers which represent the system load during the last one-, five-, and fifteen-minute periods.
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