Reliability evaluation for wireless sensor network with clustering structure based on universal generating function

Abstract

A Hierarchical Weighted Voting System (HWVS) model is established to describe the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) whose topology is cluster. Definitions about the reliability of the HWVS are presented. Based on universal generating function technique, an algorithm is suggested for evaluating the reliability of HWVS. In the algorithm, the u-functions of lower WVS and upper WVS are calculated separately, then the reliability of the whole HWVS is derived through the u-functions. The effects of system parameters (weights of sensor nodes, number of clusters, number of nodes in each cluster) on system reliability are analysed.