Using Resource based Modeling to Evaluate Coordination Schemes in Wireless Sensor Networks

Since sensor networks operate on a limited power budget, distributed control and coordination schemes designed for such networks need to be power aware. A resource-based modelling framework for system level simulation of sensor networks has been developed to offer flexibility and fast generation of various operational network scenarios, and give the opportunity to study tradeoffs involved in designing power efficient coordination, communication, and reconfiguration strategies. Sensor coordination schemes were developed in this work with the aim of efficiently utilizing available resources to prolong the sensor network lifetime. These schemes allow reconfiguration of the sensor network to make more optimal use of available resources and to take advantage of redundant resources. Simulation results show that performance and lifetime of the reconfigured sensor networks were improved over that of a sensor network having a fixed configuration