A Generalized Energy Consumption Model for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy is one of the scarcest resources in Sensor Networks. Though there has been lot of work done in considering energy efficiency and the plausibility of energy harvesting at the level of a single node, seldom has it been discussed at a topology or network level. In this paper we examine the key aspect of energy management in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN´s) at a network level. A particular clustering based approach is taken into account. A model taking into account the high energy consumption processes in nodes is then derived using the two parameters of relative hop number and a certain usage pattern ratio. The energy consumed by the network as a whole is compared vis-à-vis the solar energy that may be harvested. The practicality of an energy neutral operation is also explored for the given topology.