Stacking functional agents in sensor network systems

This paper presents and analyzes the concept of stacking functional agents to decrease the number of physical levels in a sensor network system hierarchy. Stacking functional agents helps to eliminate some hardware present in three-tier sensor network architecture to form a less costly two-tier system. For performance analysis, an undersea sensor network system that is used to track ships and submarines was simulated. Three-tier agent and non agent-based sensor network systems were compared to a new system in which stacked functional agents are implemented in a two-tier system hierarchy. Results indicate that stacking functional agents offered competitive field life and tracking performance with simplified hardware.