Data-gathering wireless sensor networks: organization and capacity

  • Authors:

  • Enrique J. Duarte-Melo;Mingyan Liu

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI;Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

  • Venue:
  • Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking - Special issue: Wireless sensor networks
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

In this paper we study the transport capacity of a data-gathering wireless sensor network under different communication organizations. In particular, we consider using a flat as well as a hierarchical/clustering architecture to realize many-to-one communications. The capacity of the network under this many-to-one data-gathering scenario is reduced compared to random one-to-one communication due to the unavoidable creation of a point of traffic concentration at the data collector/receiver. We introduce the overall throughput bound of λ = W/n per node, where W is the transmission capacity, and show under what conditions it can be achieved and under what conditions it cannot. When those conditions are not met, we constructively show how λ = Θ(W/n) is achieved with high probability as the number of sensors goes to infinity. We also show how the introduction of clustering can improve the throughput. We discuss the trade-offs between achieving capacity and energy consumption, how transport capacity might be affected by considering in-network processing and the implications this study has on the design of practical protocols for large-scale data-gathering wireless sensor networks.