Energy efficient organization and modeling of wireless sensor networks

With their focus on applications requiring tight coupling with the physical world, as opposed to the personal communication focus of conventional wireless networks, wireless sensor networks pose significantly different design, implementation and deployment challenges. Wireless sensor networks can be used for environmental parameter monitoring, boundary surveillance, target detection and classification, and the facilitation of the decision making process. Multiple sensors provide better monitoring capabilities about parameters that present both spatial and temporal variances, and can deliver valuable inferences about the physical world to the end user. In this dissertation, the problem of the energy efficient organization and modeling of dynamic wireless sensor networks is investigated and analyzed. First, a connectivity distribution model that characterizes the corresponding sensor connectivity distribution for a multi-hop sensor networking system is introduced. Based on this model, the impact of node connectivity on system reliability is analyzed, and several tradeoffs among various sleeping strategies, node connectivity and power consumption, are evaluated. Motivated by the commonality encountered in the mobile sensor wireless networks, their self-organizing and random nature, and some concepts developed by the continuum theory, a model is introduced that gives a more realistic description of the various processes and their effects on a large-scale topology as the mobile wireless sensor network evolves. Furthermore, the issue of developing an energy-efficient organization and operation of a randomly deployed multi-hop sensor network, by extending the lifetime of the communication critical nodes and as a result the overall network\u27s operation, is considered and studied. Based on the data-centric characteristic of wireless sensor networks, an efficient Quality of Service (QoS)-constrained data aggregation and processing approach for distributed wireless sensor networks is investigated and analyzed. One of the key features of the proposed approach is that the task QoS requirements are taken into account to determine when and where to perform the aggregation in a distributed fashion, based on the availability of local only information. Data aggregation is performed on the fly at intermediate sensor nodes, while at the same time the end-to-end latency constraints are satisfied. An analytical model to represent the data aggregation and report delivery process in sensor networks, with specific delivery quality requirements in terms of the achievable end-to-end delay and the successful report delivery probability, is also presented. Based on this model, some insights about the impact on the achievable system performance, of the various designs parameters and the tradeoffs involved in the process of data aggregation and the proposed strategy, are gained. Furthermore, a localized adaptive data collection algorithm performed at the source nodes is developed that balances the design tradeoffs of delay, measurement accuracy and buffer overflow, for given QoS requirements. The performance of the proposed approach is analyzed and evaluated, through modeling and simulation, under different data aggregation scenarios and traffic loads. The impact of several design parameters and tradeoffs on various critical network and application related performance metrics, such as energy efficiency, network lifetime, end-to-end latency, and data loss are also evaluated and discussed

Distributed tuning attempt probability for data gathering in random access wireless sensor networks

Copyright © 2006 IEEEIn this paper, we study the problem of data gathering in multi-hop wireless sensor networks. To tackle the high degree of channel contention and high probability of packet collision induced by bursty traffic, we introduce a novel model based on random channel access scheme for data gathering. In our model, both data delivery reliability and latency are considered, and our goal is to tune the attempt probability for each sensor node so that the data gathering duration can be minimized on condition that each link in the data gathering tree can provide guaranteed per-hop packet delivery reliability. We formulate this problem as an optimization problem and propose a distributed heuristic algorithm which exploits only two hop neighbors information to solve it for tree networks. We evaluate the algorithm and the model by simulations, and results show that our algorithm has low computational complexity and our model can provide a good trade-off between reliability and latency for data gathering.Haibo Zhang and Hong She

Channel Access Management in Data Intensive Sensor Networks

There are considerable challenges for channel access in Data Intensive Sensor Networks - DISN, supporting Data Intensive Applications like Structural Health Monitoring. As the data load increases, considerable degradation of the key performance parameters of such sensor networks is observed. Successful packet delivery ratio drops due to frequent collisions and retransmissions. The data glut results in increased latency and energy consumption overall. With the considerable limitations on sensor node resources like battery power, this implies that excessive transmissions in response to sensor queries can lead to premature network death. After a certain load threshold the performance characteristics of traditional WSNs become unacceptable. Research work indicates that successful packet delivery ratio in 802.15.4 networks can drop from 95% to 55% as the offered network load increases from 1 packet/sec to 10 packets/sec. This result in conjunction with the fact that it is common for sensors in an SHM system to generate 6-8 packets/sec of vibration data makes it important to design appropriate channel access schemes for such data intensive applications.In this work, we address the problem of significant performance degradation in a special-purpose DISN. Our specific focus is on the medium access control layer since it gives a fine-grained control on managing channel access and reducing energy waste. The goal of this dissertation is to design and evaluate a suite of channel access schemes that ensure graceful performance degradation in special-purpose DISNs as the network traffic load increases.First, we present a case study that investigates two distinct MAC proposals based on random access and scheduling access. The results of the case study provide the motivation to develop hybrid access schemes. Next, we introduce novel hybrid channel access protocols for DISNs ranging from a simple randomized transmission scheme that is robust under channel and topology dynamics to one that utilizes limited topological information about neighboring sensors to minimize collisions and energy waste. The protocols combine randomized transmission with heuristic scheduling to alleviate network performance degradation due to excessive collisions and retransmissions. We then propose a grid-based access scheduling protocol for a mobile DISN that is scalable and decentralized. The grid-based protocol efficiently handles sensor mobility with acceptable data loss and limited overhead. Finally, we extend the randomized transmission protocol from the hybrid approaches to develop an adaptable probability-based data transmission method. This work combines probabilistic transmission with heuristics, i.e., Latin Squares and a grid network, to tune transmission probabilities of sensors, thus meeting specific performance objectives in DISNs. We perform analytical evaluations and run simulation-based examinations to test all of the proposed protocols

Wireless industrial monitoring and control networks: the journey so far and the road ahead

While traditional wired communication technologies have played a crucial role in industrial monitoring and control networks over the past few decades, they are increasingly proving to be inadequate to meet the highly dynamic and stringent demands of today’s industrial applications, primarily due to the very rigid nature of wired infrastructures. Wireless technology, however, through its increased pervasiveness, has the potential to revolutionize the industry, not only by mitigating the problems faced by wired solutions, but also by introducing a completely new class of applications. While present day wireless technologies made some preliminary inroads in the monitoring domain, they still have severe limitations especially when real-time, reliable distributed control operations are concerned. This article provides the reader with an overview of existing wireless technologies commonly used in the monitoring and control industry. It highlights the pros and cons of each technology and assesses the degree to which each technology is able to meet the stringent demands of industrial monitoring and control networks. Additionally, it summarizes mechanisms proposed by academia, especially serving critical applications by addressing the real-time and reliability requirements of industrial process automation. The article also describes certain key research problems from the physical layer communication for sensor networks and the wireless networking perspective that have yet to be addressed to allow the successful use of wireless technologies in industrial monitoring and control networks

An Adaptable Energy-Efficient Medium Access Control Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless networks have become ubiquitous recently and therefore their usefulness has also become more extensive. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) detect environmental information with sensors in remote settings. One problem facing WSNs is the inability to resupply power to these energy-constrained devices due to their remoteness. Therefore to extend a WSN\u27s effectiveness, the lifetime of the network must be increased by making them as energy efficient as possible. An energy efficient medium access control (MAC) can boost a WSN\u27s lifetime. This research creates a MAC protocol called Adaptive sensor Medium Access Control (AMAC) which is based on Sensor Medium Access Control (SMAC) which saves energy by periodically sleeping and not receiving. AMAC adapts to traffic conditions by incorporating multiple duty cycles. Under a high traffic load, AMAC has a short duty cycle and wakes up often. Under a low traffic load, AMAC has a longer duty cycle and wakes up infrequently. The AMAC protocol is simulated in OPNET Modeler using various topologies. AMAC uses 15% less power and 22% less energy per byte than SMAC but doubles the latency. AMAC is promising and further research can decrease its latency and increase its energy efficiency

Let the Tree Bloom: Scalable Opportunistic Routing with ORPL

Routing in battery-operated wireless networks is challenging, posing a tradeoff between energy and latency. Previous work has shown that opportunistic routing can achieve low-latency data collection in duty-cycled networks. However, applications are now considered where nodes are not only periodic data sources, but rather addressable end points generating traffic with arbitrary patterns. We present ORPL, an opportunistic routing protocol that supports any-to-any, on-demand traffic. ORPL builds upon RPL, the standard protocol for low-power IPv6 networks. By combining RPL's tree-like topology with opportunistic routing, ORPL forwards data to any destination based on the mere knowledge of the nodes' sub-tree. We use bitmaps and Bloom filters to represent and propagate this information in a space-efficient way, making ORPL scale to large networks of addressable nodes. Our results in a 135-node testbed show that ORPL outperforms a number of state-of-the-art solutions including RPL and CTP, conciliating a sub-second latency and a sub-percent duty cycle. ORPL also increases robustness and scalability, addressing the whole network reliably through a 64-byte Bloom filter, where RPL needs kilobytes of routing tables for the same task

An objective based classification of aggregation techniques for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks have gained immense popularity in recent years due to their ever increasing capabilities and wide range of critical applications. A huge body of research efforts has been dedicated to find ways to utilize limited resources of these sensor nodes in an efficient manner. One of the common ways to minimize energy consumption has been aggregation of input data. We note that every aggregation technique has an improvement objective to achieve with respect to the output it produces. Each technique is designed to achieve some target e.g. reduce data size, minimize transmission energy, enhance accuracy etc. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of aggregation techniques that can be used in distributed manner to improve lifetime and energy conservation of wireless sensor networks. Main contribution of this work is proposal of a novel classification of such techniques based on the type of improvement they offer when applied to WSNs. Due to the existence of a myriad of definitions of aggregation, we first review the meaning of term aggregation that can be applied to WSN. The concept is then associated with the proposed classes. Each class of techniques is divided into a number of subclasses and a brief literature review of related work in WSN for each of these is also presented

Engine performance characteristics and evaluation of variation in the length of intake plenum

In the engine with multipoint fuel injection system using electronically controlled fuel injectors has an intake manifold in which only the air flows and, the fuel is injected into the intake valve. Since the intake manifolds transport mainly air, the supercharging effects of the variable length intake plenum will be different from carbureted engine. Engine tests have been carried out with the aim of constituting a base study to design a new variable length intake manifold plenum. The objective in this research is to study the engine performance characteristics and to evaluate the effects of the variation in the length of intake plenum. The engine test bed used for experimental work consists of a control panel, a hydraulic dynamometer and measurement instruments to measure the parameters of engine performance characteristics. The control panel is being used to perform administrative and management operating system. Besides that, the hydraulic dynamometer was used to measure the power of an engine by using a cell filled with liquid to increase its load. Thus, measurement instrument is provided in this test to measure the as brake torque, brake power, thermal efficiency and specific fuel consumption. The results showed that the variation in the plenum length causes an improvement on the engine performance characteristics especially on the fuel consumption at high load and low engine speeds which are put forward the system using for urban roads. From this experiment, it will show the behavior of engine performance