Hierarchical combination of distributed statistics in a monitoring network

A system for wireless tracking, comprising:

• a plurality of wireless tracking nodes, comprising:
• a first wireless tracking node, having a first wireless communications interface of a first type with a first communication range and a second wireless communications interface of a second type with a second communication range that is longer than the first type;
• at least one additional wireless tracking node each having an additional wireless communications interface of the first type;
• a server in communication with at least the first wireless tracking node;
• each of the first wireless tracking node and the at least one additional wireless tracking node being assigned, by the server, a position within a hierarchy of levels for monitoring one or more assets;
• wherein communication within the hierarchy of levels is governed according to a global description language, wherein a master node of the plurality of wireless tracking nodes communicates with slave nodes of the plurality of wireless tracking nodes to distribute respective portions of the global description language relevant to each slave node.

A network of intelligent nodes, comprising, a plurality of nodes configured in a hierarchy of a plurality of levels, comprising:

• a first node at a first level of the plurality of levels;
• and,
• a second node at a second level of the plurality of levels, the second level being lower in the hierarchy than the first level;
• wherein the first node and the second node are each configured to receive, from an external device thereto, programmatic code executable by the first node and the second node to cause the first node to function as a master node with respect to the second node;
• wherein the programmatic code, when executed by the second node, configures the second node according to a global scheduling description language defining a hierarchy of functions and communication schedule for the second node.