Coding tradeoffs for reduced energy consumption in sensor networks

We consider the design of error control schemes in wireless sensor networks. Unlike in traditional communications systems, in which coding is almost always beneficial, in sensor networks, the relatively short communications range and the lack of energy resources may lead to different conclusions. In particular, the energy spent for decoding may actually exceed that saved due to the coding gain. In this environment, interesting tradeoffs can be identified and non-traditional ways to perform error control may be proposed.