Minimal path sets models for reliability computation of wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Computing system reliability is a classical engineering reliability problem and was modeled using different computational approaches for many years. For systems which include a large number of components, one modeling approach is to consider the system components as vertices of a network graph, with the integrated components connected by edges. Wireless sensor networks follow very close this network graph model, with the access medium used for communication between the sensor nodes modeled as edges and the sensor nodes modeled as vertices. Probability and reliability theory consider the minimal path set as the lowest number of components whose functioning assures the operation of the system. This work models the reliability of wireless sensor networks using minimal path sets defined as the minimal set of functioning sensor networks that ensures a certain threshold of events detected by the sensor network.