Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are emerging as a valuable tool in many fields of science and industry. Time synchronization is an important issue for WSN's due to the collaborative and distributed nature of the tasks they perform. This paper describes a new technique for clock synchronization in WSNs called consensus clock synchronization that provides internal synchronization to a virtual consensus clock. It is sensitive to the limited resources available to sensor nodes and is robust to many of the challenges faced in dynamic ad-hoc networks. Simulations are presented to analyse the effectiveness of the synchronization protocol in a mesh network.

Tracing leaks of airborne radioactive, poisonous or flammable materials is a potentially dangerous activity that could be undertaken by robotic systems. This paper describes a practical investigation of the possibility of developing simple, low cost, autonomous robots to perform this task. It is envisaged that these robots would be used in large numbers. This would improve reliability through redundancy and provide large area coverage from a wide distribution of robots. Failure of a single unit would not jeopardise the overall sensing operation. Sensing and control techniques developed to perform leak location in a simplified laboratory environment are described and experimental results are presented.

The integration of technology into training and competition sport settings is becoming more commonplace. Inertial sensors are one technology being used for performance monitoring. Within combat sports, there is an emerging trend to use this type of technology; however, the use and selection of this technology for combat sports has not been reviewed. To address this gap, a systematic literature review for combat sport athlete performance analysis was conducted. A total of 36 records were included for review, demonstrating that inertial measurements were predominately used for measuring strike quality. The methodology for both selecting and implementing technology appeared ad-hoc, with no guidelines for appropriately analysing the results. This review summarises a framework of best practice for selecting and implementing inertial sensor technology for evaluating combat sport performance. It is envisaged that this review will act as a guide for future research into applying technology to combat sport.