Performance of wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs) for real-time, fault-tolerant and energy-efficient transmission using Kautz graph

Abstract

Wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs) are composed ofithe sensors and the actuators to perform distributed sensing and the actuating tasks. Most WSAN applications (e.g., fire detection) demand that actuators rapidly respond to observed events. Therefore, real-time (i.e., fast) and fault-tolerant transmission and energy efficiency is a critical requirement in WSAN's to enable sensed data to reach actuators reliably and quickly. We then propose a Kautz-based REal-time, Fault-tolerant and EneRgy-efficient WSAN (REFER). REFER embeds Kautz graphs into the physical topology of a WSAN for real-time communication and connects the Kautz graphs usingidistributed hash table (DHT) for high scalability. We also theoretically study routing paths in the Kautz graph, based on whichwe develop an efficient fault-tolerant routing protocol. It enables the relay node to quickly and efficiently identify the next shortest path from itselfito the destination based only on node IDs upon routingifailure, rather than relyingion retransmission from the source.