Sensor network, which is made by the convergence of sensor, micro-electro-mechanism system and networks technologies, is a novel technology about acquiring and processing information. In this paper, the architecture of wireless sensor network is briefly introduced. Next, some valuable applications are explained and forecasted. Combining with the existing work, the hot spots including power-aware routing and media access control schemes are discussed and presented in detail. Finally, taking account of application requirements, several future research directions are put forward.