Topology Construction and Maintenance in Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency and network capacity are two of the most important issues in wireless sensor networks. Topology-control algorithms have been proposed to maintain network connectivity while reducing energy consumption and improving network capacity. Several studies have also been performed to investigate critical conditions on several network parameters in order to ensure network k-connectivity (in the asymptotic sense). In this chapter, several problems (and their corresponding solutions) related to topology construction, maintenance, and connectivity in wireless sensor networks are discussed. Specifically, topics discussed include (1) various communication models and generation of random network topologies; (2) neighbor discovery and maintenance; (3) basic connectivity properties of wireless sensor networks (with the random unit graph model as the underlying model); (4) localized topology construction algorithms, along with their associated geometric structures in both homogeneous and heterogeneous networks; and (5) how to enhance fault tolerance in topology construction and connectivity.