For military purposes, wireless sensor networks allow you to "link autonomous systems" into acomplex that has the property of self-organization, when objects "know" how to find each other andform a network, and in the event of a failure of any of the nodes can establish new routes for transmittingmessages. It is possible to achieve the desired efficiency of such complexes, mainly by improvingthe intellectual component of their control system in general and individual node in particular.However, it should be noted that the vast majority of research in this area remains at the theoreticallevel. The goal is to: 1) the study and development of algorithms for network design with mobilenodes and their possible failures due to the combat mission; 2) the study and development of site usesensor network to collect, analyze, and transmit data about the situation and decision-making in thearea of responsibility; 3) to offer relatively simple algorithms for giving the network node the property of intelligent behavior under the conditions of restrictions on power consumption and speed.It is shown that the required algorithms can be developed if the classes of typical situations andsuccessful methods of action in real conditions are identified. On this basis, it becomes possible todevelop formal models (patterns) for implementation in the node management system. A two-levelstructure of an intelligent network management system is proposed. The upper level, implementedby the operator, corresponds to such properties as survival, security, fulfillment of mission obligations,accumulation and adjustment of the knowledge base in the form of effective behavior patterns.The object of control for it is the network, considered as a functional system.