Energy-aware topology control for reliable data delivery in solar-powered WSNs

Dong Kun Noh,Junbeom Hur

doi:10.1186/1687-1499-2013-258

Abstract

Solar power is a valuable source of power for wireless sensor networks, but it periodically requires an appropriate energy management strategy. We introduce a scheme that constructs and maintains a fault-tolerant wireless sensor network topology that can make the best use of solar energy. This topology control scheme is based on a simple model of the availability of solar energy and matches the connectivity of each node with the energy left in its battery. Operating locally, our scheme constructs and maintains a k-connected backbone of energy-rich nodes that handles most of the network’s traffic reliably, without depleting the reserves of energy-poor nodes. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our scheme.

Highlights

In a mains-powered wireless sensor network(WSN), energy is not a constraint on achieving a specific level of performance, so as to meet goals such as throughput and reliability
The routing protocol can trigger the execution of the topology control protocol if the former detects a lot of broken routes in the network, since this strongly suggests that the actual network topology has changed appreciably since the last execution of topology control
A topology control protocol is responsible for selecting the transmission range of each node, which determines the contention in the MAC layer

Summary

Introduction

In a mains-powered wireless sensor network(WSN), energy is not a constraint on achieving a specific level of performance, so as to meet goals such as throughput and reliability. We propose a simple solar energy model, which requires no explicit forecasting of either energy supply or demand, but is able to help individual nodes to make the best use of solar energy in contributing to the performance of the network as a whole Based on this energy model, we introduce a distributed and localized algorithm, called SolarTC, that determines the transmission power at each node that will make the best contribution to the fault tolerance of the whole network, while taking account of the residual energy available in that node. If a node has insufficient energy to operate in fault-tolerant mode, it switches to energy-saving mode, in which it tries to maintain the minimum transmission power required to maintain marginal network connectivity, while to minimize possible blackout time.

Background

FTTCk algorithm

Findings

Conclusions