On the implications of the log-normal path loss model: an efficient method to deploy and move sensor motes

  • Authors:
  • Yin Chen;Andreas Terzis

  • Affiliations:
  • Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD;Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 9th ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

IEEE 802.15.4 links can be classified into three distinct reception regions: connected, transitional, and disconnected. The transitional region is large in size and characterized by the existence of links with intermediate reception ratios. Our work leverages previous work on understanding the properties of wireless links in the space and time domains but differs in the sense that we seek opportunities to actively adjust the physical topologies of sensor networks to improve link quality. Based on an existing theoretical model supported by extensive experiments in a variety of environments, we propose an efficient mechanism to identify locations with high reception ratios in the transitional region. The proposed mechanism can be used to effectively construct long, yet high reception ratio links that are 100% longer than the size of the connected region, thereby reducing the number of relay nodes necessary to interconnect sparse sensor networks by 34%. Furthermore, this mechanism can help better position mobile sinks and guide the communication protocols for mobile sensor networks. Overall, this paper provides fresh insights into the implications of the log-normal path loss model on deploying and moving sensor motes.