Wireless Sensor Network Technologies in Smart Homes: A Review of Key Technologies, Applications and Challenges

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are used in smart home systems to provide the basic infrastructure for environmental monitoring, data collection and transmission in a smart home environment, and their performance directly affects the reliability, energy consumption, security and cross-device coordination of the entire system. Given the focus on smart home applications, this paper will systematically review the core WSN technologies in communication and networking, positioning, time synchronization, data fusion and interoperability, and analyze typical applications in existing research such as environmental control, elderly care, home security and energy management. Based on this analysis, it can be seen that current research has gradually shifted from whole-system architecture verification to low-power routing, security mechanisms and scenario-specific applications. Nevertheless, most existing achievements are still limited to simulations or laboratory prototypes. The problem of extending the lifespan of a real-life residential environment for resource-constrained nodes is still a trade-off among low-power consumption, reliability, cross-brand interoperability and security protection. Generally speaking, this research shifts from feasibility verification to low-power consumption, security improvement and scenario-based applications. However, real house long-term verifications still remain inadequate.