The impact of bandwidth constraints on the energy consumption of Wireless Sensor Networks

Optimization of flows to maximize Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) lifetime is a problem already investigated in various aspects. However, most studies ignored the effects of finite bandwidth. As source data rate of sensor nodes increases, flow patterns that balance energy dissipation optimally might need more bandwidth than available. As a result, ignoring bandwidth limitations may lead to infeasible solutions. In this study, we make a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of finite bandwidth by building a linear programming framework. The objective is the minimization of the energy expenditure in the maximum energy-dissipating node to achieve the maximum lifetime under bandwidth constraints. Our analysis reveals that energy consumption values may stay constant until a threshold data rate is reached. But, after the threshold the energy values increase because suboptimal paths are used due to bandwidth constraints. The bandwidth for optimal energy dissipation is limited approximately by twice the minimum bandwidth requirement.