An Analysis of the Use of Multiple Transmission Power Levels on Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

The energy consumption in wireless sensor networks is the critical concern of different studies, especially because of the great effort, or even the impossibility, to replace the battery of their motes. Consequently, it is fundamental to investigate and evaluate the energy spent by every individual task executed by the motes in order to provide an efficient use of their batteries. In this work, we employ different metrics to present a thorough study of how the use of multiple transmission power levels affects multihop wireless sensor networks. This work is motivated by the current employment of the multiple transmission power levels, on both academic works and commercial solutions, which is a novel feature of some radio transceivers commonly used in wireless sensor network motes. Aiming for reliable and extensive analysis, this study employs simulations in different scenarios and models of commonly employed electronic components. The contribution of this works is a detailed investigation of the impact caused by the use of different transmission power levels employing different metrics, offering a wide perspective on the subject. In general, the results of this study indicate that the use of multiple power levels grants both positive and negative results, according to the scenario and metrics analyzed.

Study on the energy consumption in wireless sensor networks

“…Power Levels on Wireless Sensor Networks This chapter, the use of multiple transmission levels, analyzed in Chapter III and in [19], [20],…”

“…In this chapter, we defined the lifetime of a Wireless Sensor Network as the period of time from the moment the network operation begins until the first mote runs out of battery, as considered in [19], [20], [93]- [97]. Assuming our simulated mote model, a 150 mAh battery provides the maximum lifetime, i.e., when the mote neither sends nor receives messages, of 7142.85 hours.…”

“…According to the analysis presented in [17][18][19][20][21], the levels of energy consumed by different motes of a network are not the same and vary depending on the relative location of motes, particularly when multi-hop routing is employed [15,[22][23][24][25][26]. This unbalanced consumption can cause battery depletion in certain regions of the network, which can lead to a fatal disruption in the connections between motes and the base station.…”

“…This unbalanced consumption can cause battery depletion in certain regions of the network, which can lead to a fatal disruption in the connections between motes and the base station. This effect was initially studied in circular networks, but it can occur in any network topology, and is commonly called Energy Hole or Doughnut Effect [7,8,[18][19][20][21][27][28][29][30][31]. Several techniques have been proposed to mitigate the effects of this unbalanced energy consumption, including:…”

“…n this chapter, the use of multiple transmission levels, analyzed in Chapter III and in [19], [20], and the strategies for calculating the individual energy consumption and the battery distribution heuristic, presented in Chapter IV, are examined on three different network topologies in 54 distinct scenarios. The simulated networks were designed to have different levels of topology irregularity, from a well-organized network, with its base station exactly in its center to a network with its base station isolated from the network cluster.…”