Date of Award

4-2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Yao Liang

Second Advisor

Zhiyuan Li

Committee Chair

Yao Liang

Committee Co-Chair

Zhiyuan Li

Committee Member 1

Christopher Clifton

Committee Member 2

Murat Dundar

Abstract

This dissertation studies the problem of energy efficiency in resource constrained and heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data collection applications in real-world scenarios. The problem is addressed from three different perspectives: network routing, node energy profiles, and network management. First, the energy efficiency in a WSN is formulated as a load balancing problem, where the routing layer can diagnose and exploit the WSN topology redundancy to reduce the data traffic processed in critical nodes, independent of their hardware platform, improving their energy consumption and extending the network lifetime. We propose a new routing strategy that extends traditional cost-based routing protocols and improves their energy efficiency, while maintaining high reliability. The evaluation of our approach shows a reduction in the energy consumption of the routing layer in the busiest nodes ranging from 11% to 59%, while maintaining over 99% reliability in WSN data collection applications. Second, a study of the effect of the MAC layer on the network energy efficiency is performed based on the nodes energy consumption profile. The resulting energy profiles reveal significant differences in the energy consumption of WSN nodes depending on their external sensors, as well as their sensitivity to changes in network traffic dynamics. Finally, the design of a general integrated framework and data management system for heterogeneous WSNs is presented. This framework not only allows external users to collect data, while monitoring the network performance and energy consumption, but also enables our proposed network redundancy diagnosis and energy profile calculations.

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