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Energy‐efficient network protocols and algorithms for wireless sensor networks
Author(s) -
Zheng Jun,
Dini Petre,
Jamalipour Abbas,
Lorenz Pascal,
Thanh Do Van
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal of communication systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1099-1131
pISSN - 1074-5351
DOI - 10.1002/dac.842
Subject(s) - wireless sensor network , computer science , key distribution in wireless sensor networks , computer network , mobile wireless sensor network , sensor node , efficient energy use , node (physics) , distributed computing , wireless network , wireless , telecommunications , engineering , electrical engineering , structural engineering
Wireless sensor networking is an emerging technology that promises a wide range of potential applications in both civilian and military areas, and has therefore received tremendous attention from both academia and industry in recent years. A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of a large number of inexpensive and small nodes with sensing, data processing, and communication capabilities, which are densely deployed in a region of interest and collaborate to accomplish a common task, such as environmental monitoring, military surveillance, and industry process control. Distinguished from traditional wireless networks and ad hoc networks, WSNs are characterized of dense node deployment, unreliable sensor node, frequent topology change, and severe power, computation, and memory constraints. These unique characteristics and constraints present many new challenges to practical realization of WSNs, such as energy conservation, self-organization, fault tolerance, etc. In particular, sensor nodes are usually battery-powered and should operate without attendance for a relatively long period of time. In most cases, it is very difficult and even impossible to change or recharge batteries for these sensor nodes. For this reason, energy efficiency is of primary importance for the operational lifetime of a sensor network. To prolong the lifetime of a sensor network, energy efficiency must be considered in almost every aspect of sensor network design, not only at the physical layer but also at the link layer and the network layer. From the networking perspective, energy efficiency must be considered in the design of various network protocols and algorithms, including those for topology discovery, self-organization, medium access control, routing, data aggregation, fault-tolerance, etc. An energy-efficient network protocol or algorithm can provide significant power savings in individual sensor nodes and thus prolong the lifetime of the entire network. However, most existing network protocols and algorithms for traditional wireless ad hoc networks cannot effectively address the power constraint and other constraints of sensor networks. To realize the vision of sensor networks, it is imperative to develop various energyefficient network protocols and algorithms in order to efficiently use the limited power in each sensor node and prolong the lifetime of the network.