Holistic Approach for Characterizing the Performance of Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Researchers are actively investigating wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with respect to node design, architecture, networking protocols, and processing algorithms. However, few researchers consider the impact of deployments on the performance of a system. As a result, an appropriate deployment simulator that estimates the performance of WSNs concerning several deployment variables is needed. This paper presents a holistic deployment framework that assists decision makers in making optimum WSN deployment choices by considering the terrain of their region of interest and type of deployment. This framework employs empirical propagation models to predict the performance of the deployment in terms of connectivity, coverage, lifetime, and throughput for stochastic and deterministic deployments in dense tree, tall grass, and short grass environments. The outlined framework can serve as a useful prototype for creating deployment simulators that optimize WSN deployments by considering terrain factors and type of deployment.