Energy-Efficient Prefix-Free Codes for Wireless Nano-Sensor Networks Using OOK Modulation

Wireless nano-sensor networks (WNSNs), which consist of nano-sensors a few hundred nanometers in size with the capability to detect and sense new types of events in nano-scale, are promising for many unique applications such as air pollution surveillance. The nano-sensors of WNSNs are highly energy-constrained, which makes it essential to develop energy-efficient communication techniques in such networks. In this paper, we focus on WNSNs employing on-off keying (OOK) modulation, whereby transmission energy minimization corresponds to the minimization of average codeword weight (ACW). We formulate an integer nonlinear programming problem to construct prefix-free codes with minimum ACW under the constraint of average codeword length (ACL) so as to minimize the transmission energy consumption while guaranteeing the throughput larger than a preset desired value. In addition, two efficient algorithms, called binary tree based weight decreasing (BT-WD) algorithm and binary tree based length decreasing (BT-LD) algorithm, are presented for constructing low-ACW prefix-free codes. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is verified through simulations and comparisons with the exhaustive search method. Compared with the available fixed-length low-weight codes, the designed prefix-free variable-length codes allow us to not only control the throughput more flexibly but also achieve lower transmission energy consumption in the scenarios with low or medium bit error rates.