Enhancing fault tolerance of wireless sensor networks by changing topology

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks work by multi hop mode. The increase of intermediate forwarding nodes will bring the packet loss rate increase. In addition, a node which has fault will affect the entire link work. The average number of forwarding node influences the fault tolerance of wireless sensor networks. In order to ensure that wireless sensor networks can work smoothly and prolong the lifetime, the reducing of average number of forwarding node is necessary, namely reducing the average number of hops. The reducing of average hop number of whole network also reduces the packet loss rate and the energy consumption of nodes. The proposed algorithm in this paper cuts down the hops and improves the fault tolerance of wireless sensor networks.