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Monsoon rains in the Indian state of Kerala often bring increasedrisk of landslides. What can be done to warn nearby communitiesthat a landslide is imminent

One answer is to use a wireless sensor network to monitorgeological conditions. Wireless sensors are becoming popularbecause the sensor nodes are small, simple and cheap and require nocabling to connect them together and to the control centre. Theycan be used for numerous purposes and are well suited toenvironmental monitoring.

There are downsides, though. Sensors and communication links canfail, and the nodes rely on battery power. Large networks canbecome congested with many sensors reporting at the same time tothe same control centre.

However, what matters is not so much the reliability of theindividual sensors but the reliability of the network as a whole.Does this system reliably monitor air pollution in the city centreDoes that system reliability measure weather conditions on themotorway bridge

Biological analogy