A Survey of Wireless Sensor Network Architectures

Abstract

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed autonomous sensors that cooperatively monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion, or pollutants, at different locations. Recent advances in low-power highly-integrated electronics, advances in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), rapid growth in the type and quality of available sensors, and progress in communication have allowed WSNs to achieve an unprecedented growth in commercial, industrial and military applications. In order to better understand WSNs, we look at their network architectures. In this survey, we classify existing WSN architectures into specific groups based on WSN behaviour and data flow characteristics. Existing architectures are described and presented along with their advantages and disadvantages. The existing architectures are also evaluated in terms of most common WSN performance parameters such as network lifetime, latency, reliability, quality of service (QoS), fidelity, scalability, modularity, and ease of deployment.