An approach towards improved energy-efficiency in wireless sensor nets

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are made up of sensor nodes that can only be equipped with limited energy resources, but can still be used over an extensive set of diverse applications. The traffic inherent to WSNs is however, variable and highly correlated. We analyze the energy-efficiency with the varying traffic in such networks. We expect sensor nodes to save more energy by using an adaptive scheme for varying traffic conditions giving robustness to different application scenarios. A random timing scheme for optimizing the radio on/off time-interval by adapting to traffic loads is discussed. The discussion in this paper aims to produce a reliable energy-aware sensing network, in spite of node failures, minimizing energy consumption at the same time.