Energy Consumption Estimation for Wireless Sensor Network Layout Optimization

Low energy consumption is a common design objective in energy-constrained Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). It is therefore crucial to accurately estimate the node energy consumption throughout the WSN design phases, particularly in the network layout optimization. In this paper, the node energy consumption is estimated with a discrete-event network simulation that provides realistic estimation values by capturing the dynamics of wireless communication protocols. A non-trivial WSN simulation requires a significant amount of time which can adversely affect the overall result of the layout optimization. Therefore, the network is simulated with a balanced simulation granularity to achieve high estimation accuracy and low computational complexity. A case study of Structural Health Monitoring is conducted to evaluate the discrete-event simulation approach. We compare the optimization results with those obtained in a previous work where the network energy consumption is obtained via simple communication models.