Basic topology reserach on wireless sensor networks

Due to rapid advances in processor, memory, and radio transmission technology, wireless sensor network (WSN) composed of a collection of untethered sensors, which are capable of detecting, computing, and communicating, is more and more attractive and exciting. Once deployed, the small sensor nodes are usually inaccessible to the user, and thus replacement of the energy source is not feasible. Hence, energy efficiency is a key design issue that needs to be enhanced in order to increases the energy lifetime of the sensor network. This paper tries to propose the energy-efficient topology structure for different application scenarios through performance analyses with different number of nodes and location of base station in WSN. With a defined cost function called total energy consumption rate, two basic topology structures of WSN are compared and the energy efficiency of both topology structures in different network conditions are demonstrated.