Energy-aware and Context-aware Fault Detection Framework for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of many sensor nodes that are densely deployed throughout a randomized geographical area to monitor, detect, and analyze various physical phenomena. The primary obstacle encountered in WSNs pertains to the significant reliance of sensor nodes on finite battery power for wireless data transfer. Sensors as a crucial element inside Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) renders them vulnerable to failures arising from intricate surroundings, substandard manufacturing, and the passage of time. Various anomalies can appear within WSNs, mostly attributed to defects such as hardware and software malfunctions and anomalies and assaults initiated by unauthorized individuals. These anomalies significantly impact the overall integrity and completeness of the data gathered by the networks. Therefore, it is imperative to provide a critical mechanism for the early detection of faults, even in the presence of constraints imposed by the sensor nodes. Machine Learning (ML) techniques encompass a range of approaches that may be employed to identify and diagnose sensor node faults inside a network. This paper presents a novel Energy-aware and Context-aware fault detection framework (ECFDF) that utilizes the Extra-Trees algorithm (ETA) for fault detection in WSNs. To assess the effectiveness of the suggested methodology for identifying context-aware faults (CAF), a simulated WSN scenario is created. This scenario consists of data from humidity and temperature sensors and is designed to emulate severe low-intensity problems. This study examines six often-seen categories of sensor fault, including drift, hard-over/bias, spike, erratic/precision, stuck, and data loss. The ECFDF approach utilizes an Energy-Efficient Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (EE-FLACH) algorithm to select a Super Cluster Head (SCH) within WSNs. The SCH is responsible for achieving optimal energy consumption within the network, and this selection process facilitates the early detection of faults. The results of the simulation indicate that the ECFDF technique has superior performance in terms of Fault Detection Accuracy (FDA), False-Positive Rate (FPR), and Mean Residual Energy (MRE) when compared to other detection and classification methods.