Enabling Quality-of-Service Applications in Sensor Networks

Abstract

Recent advances in Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems technology, wireless communications, and digital electronics have enabled the development of low-cost, low-power, multifunctional sensor nodes that are small in size and communicate untethered in short distances. These tiny sensor nodes, which consist of sensing, data processing, and communicating components, leverage the idea of sensor networks based on collaborative effort of a large number of nodes. A wide range of applications utilizing low-end sensor nodes to collaborative work together is envisioned for sensor networks. Some of the application areas are health, military, and security. For example, sensor networks can be used to detect foreign chemical agents in the air and the water. They can help to identify the type, concentration, and location of pollutants. In essence, sensor networks will provide the end user with intelligence and a better understanding of the environment. Realization of these and other sensor network applications require certain fundamental protocols and schemes. The objective of this thesis is to provide some of the basic building blocks that are necessary for sensor networks. These basic blocks are in the areas of routing, time synchronization, and localization. The routing protocol allows different types of traffics to be delivered and fused during delivery to lower the amount of information exchange. The time synchronization protocol enables the sensor nodes to maintain a similar time while the localization technique provides a way to find the sensor nodes in the sensor field. The routing, time synchronization, and localization schemes may be used to provide Quality-of-Service when data is gathered from the sensor networks.