Toward Reliability of Long Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks have become pervasive in various applications, including environmental monitoring, smart cities, precision agriculture, and healthcare. In particular, linear wireless sensor networks that span considerable distances are increasingly deployed for applications such as pipeline monitoring and transportation systems. However, ensuring the reliability of long wireless sensor networks poses significant challenges due to the unique characteristics of the network topology and the constraints imposed by the resource-constrained sensor nodes. There is a notable lack of methods for the analysis and optimization of the reliability of large-scale sensor networks, and in this paper, we partially fill this gap. We propose a method for assessing the tradeoff between redundancy of forward error correction and reliable packet delivery. We also consider approaches to improve the reliability of linear sensor networks based on increasing topology connectivity and provide a corresponding method for the exact calculation of the all-terminal reliability. Numerical experiments demonstrate the relevance and effectiveness of our results. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the underlying principles governing the reliability of long wireless sensor networks and provides valuable insights for the design, optimization, and management of such networks in real-world applications.