1. A network system for collecting information from sensors, comprising: a plurality of different tier networks in communication with one another, each tier network comprising a plurality of network nodes one of which is configured as a command center of the tier network to collect data from other network nodes within the tier network and to direct the collected data to a center node of a superordinate tier network, the different tier networks configured to perform different and tier-specific data collection and data processing tasks and at least one tier network being located within a superordinate tier network; and a plurality of sensors spatially distributed in the different tier networks to perform sensing measurements, each sensor in communication with a respective network node to direct data of sensing measurements to the respective network node.