QoS-aware optimization of sensor network queries

The resource-constrained nature of mote-level wireless sensor networks (WSNs) poses challenges for the design of a general-purpose sensor network query processors (SNQPs). Existing SNQPs tend to generate query execution plans (QEPs) that are selected on the basis of a fixed, implicit expectation, for example, that energy consumption should be kept as small as possible. However, in WSN applications, the same query may be subject to several, possibly conflicting, quality-of-service (QoS) expectations concomitantly (for example maximizing data acquisition rates subject to keeping energy consumption low). It is also not uncommon for the QoS expectations to change over the lifetime of a deployment (for example from low to high data acquisition rates). This paper describes optimization algorithms that respond to stated QoS expectations (about acquisition rate, delivery time, energy consumption and lifetime) when making routing, placement, and timing decisions for in-WSN query processing. The paper shows experimentally that QoS-awareness offers significant benefits in responding to, and reconciling, diverse QoS expectations, thereby enabling QoS-aware SNQPs to generate efficient QEPs for a broader range WSN applications than has hitherto been possible.