Architecture and Communication Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks in Harsh Environments 
[back to main]
Contact Hwee-Pink Tan [hptan(at)i2r(dot) a-star (dot) edu (dot) sg], Winston K. G. Seah [winston(at)i2r(dot)a-star(dot)edu(dot)sg] and Alvin C. Valera [acvalera(at)i2r(dot)a-star(dot)edu(dot)sg]

Context
Wireless sensor networks are expected to be deployed in harsh environments characterized by extremely poor and fluctuating channel conditions. With the generally adopted single-sink architecture, be it static or mobile, such conditions arise due to contention near the sink as a result of multipath data delivery. The compactness of sensors with limited energy resources restricts the use of sophisticated FEC or ARQ mechanisms to improve the reliability of transmissions under such adverse conditions.

Overview
We propose a novel virtual sink architecture for wireless sensor networks that mitigates the near-sink contention by defining a group of spatially diverse physical sinks. Reliability and energy efficiency is achieved through multipath data delivery to the sinks without the need for sophisticated FEC or ARQ mechanisms. This architecture is especially suitable for indoor environments, where channel conditions are harsh due to severe multipath fading, as well as emerging applications like underwater sensor networks where the predominant physical layer is acoustic communications, which is characterized by long propagation delays and severely fluctuating link conditions.

Related Publications

  • Alvin C. Valera, Pius W. Q. Lee, Hwee-Pink Tan, Winston K. G. Seah and Z. A. Eu. An In-situ Measurement Approach for IEEE 802.11 Wireless Multihop Networks. Accepted for publication in IEEE I2MTC, May 2009.

  • Alvin C. Valera, Pius W. Q. Lee, Winston K. G. Seah, Hwee-Pink Tan and H. Ju. An Experimental Study on Connectivity and Topology Control in Real Multi-hop Wireless Networks. Accepted for publication in ICST 4th WICON, November 2008.

  • Hwee-Pink Tan, Colman O'Sullivan and Winston K. G. Seah. Interference Management for Medium Access Control in CDMA Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks. Accepted for publication in IEEE VTC, May 2008.

  • Hwee-Pink Tan, Winston K. G. Seah and Linda Doyle. Exploring Cognitive Techniques for Bandwidth Management in Integrated Underwater Acoustic Systems. Accepted for publication in MTS/IEEE Oceans 2008, Kobe, April 2008.

  • Hwee-Pink Tan, Adriana F. Gabor and Winston K. G. Seah. Performance Analysis of Data Delivery Schemes for a Multi-sink Wireless Sensor Network. Accepted for publication in IEEE AINA, March 2008 (Highly Commended Paper Award).

  • Hwee-Pink Tan, Winston K. G. Seah and Linda Doyle. A Multi-hop ARQ Protocol for an Underwater Acoustic Channel. Accepted for publication in IEEE OCEANS Europe, June 2007.

  • Winston K.G. Seah and Hwee-Pink Tan. Multipath Virtual Sink Architecture for Wireless Sensor Networks in Harsh Environments. Proc. of the ACM first international conference on Integrated internet ad hoc and sensor networks (Intersense), Vol 138, May 2006 (Invited Paper).