Low Power Network Discovery Algorithms

An ad-hoc sensor network is a network of numerous wireless nodes where each node has sensing, storage, computation, communication and possibly actuating resources. Each node has a limited power source that determines the lifetime of the node. Therefore, energy is the most critical factor in sensor networks in all of its design levels (i.e. hardware, network layers and applications). Numerous studies in sensor networks have already demonstrated that communication between nodes is the dominating source of energy consumption. While traditional wireless network architecture has been based on systems of static base stations, it appears that a multi-hop network, where each node communicates with a few close nodes, is most efficient in terms of energy savings and bandwidth reuse. In multi-hop networks, each node communicates with other geographically distant nodes using intermediate nodes to build a communication path. The goal of this research introduces and evaluates new power saving techniques for wireless ad-hoc sensor networks. In order to present the flow of the algorithms within the network, we introduce the notion of a token. Token(s) defines a node that is currently active and is executing the algorithm. The procedures involve electing the next active node and giving the control of the algorithms (token) to that node. The token node can only send control to the nodes within its communication range (neighboring node). The algorithms for both of our project goals can utilize single or multiple tokens.