Distributed optimal self-organisation in a class of wireless sensor networks

The work in this paper is motivated by the idea of using randomly deployed, ad hoc wireless networks of miniature smart sensors to serve as distributed instrumentation. We argue that in such applications it is important for the sensors to self-organise in a way that optimizes network throughput. We then identify and discuss two main problems of optimal self-organisation: (i) building an optimal topology, and (ii) tuning network access parameters such as the transmission attempt rate. We consider a simple random access model for sensor networks and formulate these problems as optimisation problems. We then present centralized as well as distributed algorithms for solving them. Results show that the performance improvement is substantial and implementation of such optimal self-organisation techniques may be worth the additional complexity.