Over the past seven years, nodes have gone both in the directions of smaller size and increased capabilities.  Some of these are now to the point that they can be conveniently programmed by groups other than the developers, and thus may be used in support of scientific experiments.  All the nodes illustrated are descendents in various senses of the UCLA LWIM project.

Sensor nodes combine signal processing, communications and sensors in one package, together with an energy supply. A combination of advances in IC technology, customization, and most importantly system optimization methods will lead to node energy consumption decreasing steadily over time.

There are many means for powering nodes, although the reality is that various electrical sources are by far the most convenient.  Technology trends indicate that within the lifetime of CENS, nodes will likely be available that could live off ambient light.  However, this cannot be accomplished without aggressive energy management at many levels; continuous communications alone would exceed the typical energy budgets.

This fact together with scalability concerns provides strong incentive for processing data at source, rather than sending it to some central collection point.