An Economic Analysis of Issues Driving Sensor Network Costs

摘要

During the difficult task of selecting which technologies to include in the design of a new product, tangible reasons are frequently sought to justify "gut-feeling" decisions. In determining whether to apply anew technology approach to a product under development, imprecise near-term financial benefits and intangible long-term returns are frequently invoked as adequate justification for selecting and utilizing new technology. In fact, the economic advantages associated with applying new technology often becomes an extremely important aspect in determining whether this new product will fail or succeed. Curiously, the "true" economic advantage of applying a new technology may be overshadowed by the ability to quantify or articulate the value of this technology. This talk will discuss some of the economic issues associated with implementing sensor-to-network interface capabilities. During this presentation, real-world motivations for networking sensors will be identified and summarized. A brief review of the underlying technologies necessary to interface sensors and actuators to networks will be presented. Some common misconceptions and inaccurate network interface cost comparisons will be explained. During this talk, we will compare and contrast two of the most common sensor-to-network interface approaches. Current costs for two of these solutions will be included using dollar values based on product data sheets used in sensor-to-network implementations. Finally, economic and technology factors effecting future implementations will be discussed.