Wireless sensor networks modeling as a probabilistic combinatorial optimization problem

The wireless sensor networks are considered as a new technology that has appeared due to technological advances in the field of development of powerful processors, wireless communication protocols and smart sensors. Because of their sensitivity, several research projects have been conducted for the purpose of finding solutions to wireless sensor networks in the presence of intrusions and failures. In fact, a sensor network must be able to maintain its functionality without interruptions caused by the failures of sensors. This problem of fault tolerance has seen a great significance among various fields of research in these networks. The main idea presented in this paper is that the combinatorial optimization provides applicable methods in the context of wireless sensor networks and the function to be optimized can be the function that calculates the consumed energy during communications, or the covered distance, or the routing path cost during data transmission to the sink. Fault tolerant protocols and approaches must then be employed to ensure reliability and to allow us choosing the best paths in order to route information from the source to the collector. In this paper, a theoretical modeling of a probabilistic combinatorial optimization problem through wireless sensors networks is explored.