Fundamentals of energy-constrained sensor network systems

This article is an overview of energy-constrained sensor networks, focusing on energy-conserving communications and signal processing strategies. We assume battery-driven nodes, employing robust communications, with little or no fixed infrastructure. Our discussion includes architectures, communications connectivity, capacity and scalability, mobility, network localization and synchronization, distributed signal processing, and cross-layer issues. Because energy is a precious system resource, all aspects of the network must be designed with energy savings in mind. In particular, transmissions and idle listening must be minimized, which implies the use of duty cycling to the maximum extent possible. When external assets are available, for tasks such as network synchronization and node geolocation, these can greatly relieve the energy burden and significantly enhance network lifetime.

[1]  Brian M. Sadler,et al.  Propagation for Aeroacoustic Sensor Networks , 2004 .

[2]  Edward J. Coyle,et al.  An energy efficient hierarchical clustering algorithm for wireless sensor networks , 2003, IEEE INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37428).

[3]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  Directed diffusion for wireless sensor networking , 2003, TNET.

[4]  Toby Berger,et al.  The CEO problem [multiterminal source coding] , 1996, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[5]  Randolph L. Moses,et al.  Self-calibration of sensor networks , 2002, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[6]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  An energy-efficient MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks , 2002, Proceedings.Twenty-First Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.

[7]  Robert Wynands,et al.  A microwave frequency reference based on VCSEL-driven dark line resonances in Cs vapor , 2000, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas..

[8]  R. A. McDonald,et al.  Noiseless Coding of Correlated Information Sources , 1973 .

[9]  Michele Zorzi,et al.  Geographic Random Forwarding (GeRaF) for Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks: Multihop Performance , 2003, IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput..

[10]  R.J. Fontana,et al.  Ultra-wideband precision asset location system , 2002, 2002 IEEE Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies (IEEE Cat. No.02EX580).

[11]  D. Caprioni,et al.  Small unit operations situation awareness system (SUO-SAS) radio architecture and system field testing results , 2003, IEEE Military Communications Conference, 2003. MILCOM 2003..

[12]  Gustavo de Veciana,et al.  Minimizing energy consumption in large-scale sensor networks through distributed data compression and hierarchical aggregation , 2004, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[13]  John A. Silvester,et al.  Optimum transmission radii for packet radio networks or why six is a magic number , 1978 .

[14]  D K Wilson,et al.  Performance bounds for passive sensor arrays operating in a turbulent medium: plane-wave analysis. , 2003, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[15]  Erik G. Larsson,et al.  Cramer-Rao bound analysis of distributed positioning in sensor networks , 2004, IEEE Signal Processing Letters.

[16]  Brian M. Sadler,et al.  Multi-modal sensor localization using a mobile access point , 2005, Proceedings. (ICASSP '05). IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2005..

[17]  Feng Zhao,et al.  Collaborative signal and information processing in microsensor networks , 2002, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.

[18]  Ram Ramanathan,et al.  On the scalability of ad hoc routing protocols , 2002, Proceedings.Twenty-First Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.

[19]  Mingyan Liu,et al.  Data-gathering wireless sensor networks: organization and capacity , 2003, Comput. Networks.

[20]  Y. J. Liu,et al.  Performance optimization for a mobile small-unit-operation situational awareness (SUO-SAS) radio network , 2003, IEEE Military Communications Conference, 2003. MILCOM 2003..

[21]  Ness B. Shroff,et al.  The Fundamental Capacity-Delay Tradeoff in Large Mobile Wireless Networks , .

[22]  Saurabh Ganeriwal,et al.  Timing-sync protocol for sensor networks , 2003, SenSys '03.

[23]  Ness B. Shroff,et al.  The Fundamental Capacity-Delay Tradeoff in Large Mobile Ad Hoc Networks , 2004 .

[24]  J. Elson,et al.  Fine-grained network time synchronization using reference broadcasts , 2002, OSDI '02.

[25]  C. Chien,et al.  Low power TDMA in large wireless sensor networks , 2001, 2001 MILCOM Proceedings Communications for Network-Centric Operations: Creating the Information Force (Cat. No.01CH37277).

[26]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  Lightweight time synchronization for sensor networks , 2003, WSNA '03.

[27]  Hui Li,et al.  Radioactively powered pressure transducer with RF pulse output , 2003, TRANSDUCERS '03. 12th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems. Digest of Technical Papers (Cat. No.03TH8664).

[28]  B. Otis,et al.  PicoRadios for wireless sensor networks: the next challenge in ultra-low power design , 2002, 2002 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers (Cat. No.02CH37315).

[29]  Jose A. Gutierrez,et al.  Low-Rate Personal Area Networks: Enabling Wireless Sensors with IEEE 802.15.4 , 2007 .

[30]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  Bounding the lifetime of sensor networks via optimal role assignments , 2002, Proceedings.Twenty-First Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.

[31]  Toby Berger,et al.  An upper bound on the sum-rate distortion function and its corresponding rate allocation schemes for the CEO problem , 2004, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[32]  Patrick Thiran,et al.  Connectivity vs capacity in dense ad hoc networks , 2004, IEEE INFOCOM 2004.

[33]  Patrick Thiran,et al.  Connectivity in ad-hoc and hybrid networks , 2002, Proceedings.Twenty-First Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.

[34]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  Upper bounds on the lifetime of sensor networks , 2001, ICC 2001. IEEE International Conference on Communications. Conference Record (Cat. No.01CH37240).

[35]  Mark A. Shayman,et al.  Energy Efficient Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks , 2003 .

[36]  Chee-Yee Chong,et al.  Sensor networks: evolution, opportunities, and challenges , 2003, Proc. IEEE.

[37]  Konstantinos Kalpakis,et al.  MAXIMUM LIFETIME DATA GATHERING AND AGGREGATION IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS , 2002 .

[38]  Anthony Ephremides,et al.  Algorithms for routing session traffic in wireless ad-hoc networks with energy and bandwidth limitations , 2001, 12th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications. PIMRC 2001. Proceedings (Cat. No.01TH8598).

[39]  B. Ziaie,et al.  Low frequency wireless powering of microsystems using piezoelectric–magnetostrictive laminate composites , 2004 .

[40]  Jianping Pan,et al.  A lifetime-aware single-session flow routing algorithm for energy-constrained wireless sensor networks , 2003, IEEE Military Communications Conference, 2003. MILCOM 2003..

[41]  Baochun Li,et al.  On the fundamental capacity and lifetime limits of energy-constrained wireless sensor networks , 2004, Proceedings. RTAS 2004. 10th IEEE Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium, 2004..

[42]  S. Bregni,et al.  A historical perspective on telecommunications network synchronization , 1998, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[43]  Michele Zorzi,et al.  Geographic Random Forwarding (GeRaF) for Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks: Energy and Latency Performance , 2003, IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput..

[44]  J. Kitching,et al.  A microfabricated atomic clock , 2004 .

[45]  Amre El-Hoiydi,et al.  Aloha with preamble sampling for sporadic traffic in ad hoc wireless sensor networks , 2002, 2002 IEEE International Conference on Communications. Conference Proceedings. ICC 2002 (Cat. No.02CH37333).

[46]  Panganamala Ramana Kumar,et al.  The Number of Neighbors Needed for Connectivity of Wireless Networks , 2004, Wirel. Networks.

[47]  Mani Srivastava,et al.  Energy efficient routing in wireless sensor networks , 2001, 2001 MILCOM Proceedings Communications for Network-Centric Operations: Creating the Information Force (Cat. No.01CH37277).

[48]  Lang Tong,et al.  Multipacket reception in random access wireless networks: from signal processing to optimal medium access control , 2001, IEEE Commun. Mag..

[49]  Anthony Ephremides,et al.  Information Theory and Communication Networks: An Unconsummated Union , 1998, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[50]  Mihail L. Sichitiu,et al.  Simple, accurate time synchronization for wireless sensor networks , 2003, 2003 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking, 2003. WCNC 2003..

[51]  Gregory J. Pottie,et al.  Protocols for self-organization of a wireless sensor network , 2000, IEEE Wirel. Commun..

[52]  Zixiang Xiong,et al.  A distributed source coding technique for correlated images using turbo-codes , 2002, IEEE Communications Letters.

[53]  A. Lal,et al.  Nanopower betavoltaic microbatteries , 2003, TRANSDUCERS '03. 12th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems. Digest of Technical Papers (Cat. No.03TH8664).

[54]  Randolph L. Moses,et al.  A Self-Localization Method for Wireless Sensor Networks , 2003, EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process..

[55]  Edward J. Coyle,et al.  Minimizing communication costs in hierarchically clustered networks of wireless sensors , 2003, 2003 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking, 2003. WCNC 2003..

[56]  Ram Ramanathan,et al.  Scalability of Routing in Ad Hoc Networks: Principles and Practice , 2004 .

[57]  Mani B. Srivastava,et al.  On the Error Characteristics of Multihop Node Localization in Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks , 2003, IPSN.

[58]  J. Tellado,et al.  Multicarrier Modulation with Low Par: Applications to DSL and Wireless , 2000 .

[59]  Lang Tong,et al.  Exploiting decentralized channel state information for random access , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.

[60]  Krishna M. Sivalingam,et al.  Data Gathering Algorithms in Sensor Networks Using Energy Metrics , 2002, IEEE Trans. Parallel Distributed Syst..

[61]  Panganamala Ramana Kumar,et al.  A network information theory for wireless communication: scaling laws and optimal operation , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.

[62]  Panganamala Ramana Kumar,et al.  A cautionary perspective on cross-layer design , 2005, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[63]  R. M. Garvey,et al.  The Chip-Scale Atomic Clock - Coherent Population Trapping vs. Conventional Interrogation , 2003 .

[64]  David Tse,et al.  Mobility increases the capacity of ad-hoc wireless networks , 2001, Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2001. Conference on Computer Communications. Twentieth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Society (Cat. No.01CH37213).

[65]  Sergio D. Servetto,et al.  Algorithmic Aspects of the Time Synchronization Problem in Large-Scale Sensor Networks , 2005, Mob. Networks Appl..

[66]  L. Tong,et al.  The Impact of MAC Design on Estimation of Spacial Markov Process in Sensor Networks , 2003 .

[67]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  PicoRadio Supports Ad Hoc Ultra-Low Power Wireless Networking , 2000, Computer.

[68]  S. Sitharama Iyengar,et al.  Distributed Sensor Networks , 2004 .

[69]  Lang Tong,et al.  Energy efficiency of large-scale wireless networks: proactive versus reactive networking , 2005, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[70]  Baltasar Beferull-Lozano,et al.  Rate-distortion problem for physics based distributed sensing , 2004, Third International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, 2004. IPSN 2004.

[71]  BandyopadhyaySeema,et al.  Minimizing communication costs in hierarchically-clustered networks of wireless sensors , 2004 .

[72]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  Data funneling: routing with aggregation and compression for wireless sensor networks , 2003, Proceedings of the First IEEE International Workshop on Sensor Network Protocols and Applications, 2003..

[73]  Panganamala Ramana Kumar,et al.  RHEINISCH-WESTFÄLISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN , 2001 .

[74]  Brian M. Sadler,et al.  Information retrieval and processing in sensor networks: deterministic scheduling vs. random access , 2004, International Symposium onInformation Theory, 2004. ISIT 2004. Proceedings..

[75]  Zixiang Xiong,et al.  Compression of binary sources with side information at the decoder using LDPC codes , 2002, IEEE Communications Letters.

[76]  Kannan Ramchandran,et al.  Distributed compression in a dense microsensor network , 2002, IEEE Signal Process. Mag..

[77]  Lang Tong,et al.  Medium access control with channel state information for large sensor networks , 2002, 2002 IEEE Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing..

[78]  William C. Lindsey,et al.  Network Synchronization of Random Signals , 1980, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[79]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  Dynamic Power Management in Wireless Sensor Networks , 2001, IEEE Des. Test Comput..

[80]  Randolph L. Moses,et al.  Self-localization of three-dimensional sensor networks , 2003, IEEE Workshop on Statistical Signal Processing, 2003.

[81]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  Optimal and Global Time Synchronization in Sensornets , 2003 .

[82]  Feng Zhao,et al.  Scalable Information-Driven Sensor Querying and Routing for Ad Hoc Heterogeneous Sensor Networks , 2002, Int. J. High Perform. Comput. Appl..

[83]  Asis Nasipuri,et al.  An adaptive low power reservation based MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks , 2004, IEEE International Conference on Performance, Computing, and Communications, 2004.

[84]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  Location in distributed ad-hoc wireless sensor networks , 2001, 2001 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. Proceedings (Cat. No.01CH37221).

[85]  Ying Zhao,et al.  Compression of correlated binary sources using turbo codes , 2001, IEEE Communications Letters.

[86]  Brian M. Sadler.  Critical issues in energy-constrained sensor networks: synchronization, scheduling, and acquisition , 2005, Proceedings. (ICASSP '05). IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2005..

[87]  Lang Tong,et al.  Signal Processing in Random Access A cross-layer perspective in an uncharted path , 2004 .

[88]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  Robust range estimation using acoustic and multimodal sensing , 2001, Proceedings 2001 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Expanding the Societal Role of Robotics in the the Next Millennium (Cat. No.01CH37180).

[89]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  Energy scavenging for wireless sensor networks , 2003 .

[90]  Mingyan Liu,et al.  Analysis of energy consumption and lifetime of heterogeneous wireless sensor networks , 2002, Global Telecommunications Conference, 2002. GLOBECOM '02. IEEE.

[91]  Yingyu Wan,et al.  Accurate Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks , 2005, MSN.

[92]  A. Chandrakasan,et al.  Energy-efficient DSPs for wireless sensor networks , 2002, IEEE Signal Process. Mag..

[93]  J. L. Gao,et al.  Analysis of Energy Consumption for Ad Hoc Wireless Sensor Networks Using a Bit-Meter-per-Joule Metric , 2002 .

[94]  Zygmunt J. Haas,et al.  Independent zone routing: an adaptive hybrid routing framework for ad hoc wireless networks , 2004, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.

[95]  Michael Gastpar,et al.  Distributed signal processing and communications: on the interaction of sources and channels , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2003. Proceedings. (ICASSP '03)..

[96]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  Sensor Networks , 2002, Encyclopedia of GIS.

[97]  Piyush Gupta,et al.  Critical Power for Asymptotic Connectivity in Wireless Networks , 1999 .

[98]  K. Ramchandran,et al.  Distributed source coding using syndromes (DISCUS): design and construction , 1999, Proceedings DCC'99 Data Compression Conference (Cat. No. PR00096).

[99]  Hamid Gharavi,et al.  Special issue on sensor networks and applications , 2003 .

[100]  Brian M. Sadler,et al.  Source localization with distributed sensor arrays and partial spatial coherence , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.

[101]  Gabor Karsai,et al.  Smart Dust: communicating with a cubic-millimeter computer , 2001 .

[102]  Ashish Agarwal,et al.  Improved capacity bounds for wireless networks , 2004, Wirel. Commun. Mob. Comput..

[103]  Panganamala Ramana Kumar,et al.  The transport capacity of wireless networks over fading channels , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.

[104]  Gregory J. Pottie,et al.  Wireless integrated network sensors , 2000, Commun. ACM.

[105]  Mingyan Liu,et al.  On the Many-to-One Transport Capacity of a Dense Wireless Sensor Network and the Compressibility of Its Data , 2003, IPSN.

[106]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  Time synchronization for wireless sensor networks , 2001, Proceedings 15th International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium. IPDPS 2001.

[107]  Lang Tong,et al.  Sensor Networks With Mobile Access: Energy and Capacity Considerations , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[108]  Nathan Ickes,et al.  Physical layer driven protocol and algorithm design for energy-efficient wireless sensor networks , 2001, MobiCom '01.

[109]  Joseph M. Kahn,et al.  An autonomous 16 mm/sup 3/ solar-powered node for distributed wireless sensor networks , 2002, Proceedings of IEEE Sensors.

[110]  Steve C. Cripps,et al.  Advanced Techniques in RF Power Amplifier Design , 2002 .

[111]  Sergio D. Servetto,et al.  Asymptotically optimal time synchronization in dense sensor networks , 2003, WSNA '03.

[112]  Nathan Ickes,et al.  Energy-centric enabling tecumologies for wireless sensor networks , 2002, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[113]  Thilo Streichert,et al.  Time Synchronization , 2007, Algorithms for Sensor and Ad Hoc Networks.

[114]  Kay Römer,et al.  Wireless sensor networks: a new regime for time synchronization , 2003, CCRV.

[115]  Brian M. Sadler,et al.  Algorithms and performance of small baseline acoustic sensor arrays , 2004, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[116]  Kung Yao,et al.  Maximum-likelihood source localization and unknown sensor location estimation for wideband signals in the near-field , 2002, IEEE Trans. Signal Process..

[117]  John Stachel,et al.  Einstein's clocks, Poincaré's maps; Empires of time , 2005 .

[118]  Asser N. Tantawi,et al.  Connectivity properties of a packet radio network model , 1989, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[119]  François Baccelli,et al.  Impact of interferences on connectivity in ad hoc networks , 2005, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.

[120]  Sergio Verdú,et al.  Fifty Years of Shannon Theory , 1998, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[121]  Stark C. Draper,et al.  Side information aware coding strategies for sensor networks , 2004, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[122]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Connecting the Physical World with Pervasive Networks , 2002, IEEE Pervasive Comput..