Robustness in Autonomous and Central Wireless Sensor Network: The Orchard Example

For implementation of wireless sensor network in logistic applications and in general in automation process applications, two network structures are considered: autonomous and central. In this paper, these two structures are compared in terms of robustness and control quality. An experiment for controlling the humidity of an apple orchard is conducted. Autonomous and central wireless sensor network are simulated by Prowler simulator. The noise over the network is generated by normal random generator, therefore the simulation is repeated 10 times to be independent of generated random set. The behavior of orchard humidity against applied noises is considered as output of the experiment. Based on the results, autonomous network shows less sensitivity and more robustness when the environmental noise increases. The deviation difference between outputs in two networks is discussed as control quality achievement of two networks.