A top-down approach for the design of low-power microsensor nodes for wireless sensor network

This paper describes the modeling of a microsensor node dedicated to wireless sensor network applications. The definition of the different node modes is first introduced: wake-up, measure, processing, transmission, reception and sleep. Then, contrary to the literature, a complete sensor node energy model is derived and used to analyze node autonomy. This model allows to estimate the part of each element of the microsensor node in its overall power consumption. Using this simple model, the impact of application specifications and element characteristics into the average power consumption can be analyzed in order to guide designer towards the best choice of components.