Use of Side Information to Improve Energy Consumption in IR-UWB Wireless Sensor Networks

Sensor nodes are mostly battery-powered and in many cases it is impractical to recharge their battery, thus energy saving is of critical importance in the design of protocols for wireless sensor networks. Wakeup schemes that switch off sensors radio when communication is not necessary have great potential in energy saving. This paper proposes the integration of side information available at sensor nodes, such as mobility state and battery charge level in the wake up scheme of IEEE 802.15.4a capable sensor nodes. The conditions under which the proposed scheme shows improvement are identified.