On the effect of heterogeneous traffic sources on the network availability for wireless sensor grids

Abstract

Wireless sensor grids are poised for applications where predeployment information is highly available to optimize communication and computation costs. Using two widely known grid traversal schemes, we critique the effect of multiple services being rendered by a sensor network onto its availability. We derive an interesting result using Markovian model to appreciate the effect of load heterogeneity onto node and network lifetimes. Our mathematical model also analyzes synchronous sleep for its effect on energy conservation. We also propose a epicenter regulated, asynchronous sleep scheme which allows nodes to conserve energy yet relay data towards the sink effectively. The performance results show that the proposed scheme prolongs network availability in sensor grids. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.