SmokeNet is a dynamic wireless sensor network composed of four main types of communication nodes.  The wireless network layer is implemented using Moteiv Telos motes.  Each node has its own functions and set of sensors.  The first type of node is the smoke detector that contains smoke and deferential temperature sensors, whereas the “stoplight” nodes are made up of three bright LEDs that are used to visually convey critical information about a given room or exit path that a firefighter and or occupant may take before they enter.  These stoplight nodes are placed above each doorway in a location that can easily be seen.  The smoke detector nodes would replace the current smoke sensors used in the building. The backbone of the communication layer for SmokeNet is made up of these preinstalled smoke detector and stoplight nodes because of their static location and placement throughout the building.
The eICS and firefighter nodes are mobile and can be anywhere within a building which makes the routing of critical build/system health and location tacking, within a timely fashion, a nontrivial problem to be addressed. The firefighter nodes consist of a mica2 mote, a small wearable computer, and a FireEye firefighter head mounted display that is integrated into the firefighter’s normal hardware.  When a firefighter node enters a SmokeNet enabled building, SmokeNet will identify this node as a firefighter and rout messages to the node pertaining to the firefighter’s location, the locations of other firefighters, locations of the fire, and messages from the IC. The sensors will monitor the firefighter’s air tank level and heart rate, and send the information to the other firefighters and the IC. A subset of the information that is routed to or sensed by the firefighter node is displayed on their FireEye depending on what information is critical to the firefighter at the time.  Some of the design requirements that SmokeNet hopes to satisfy on the communication layer are robust and redundant routing algorithms, and adaptability of the network layer in the event that nodes become inoperable.