A Realistic Power Consumption Model for Wireless Sensor Network Devices

A realistic power consumption model of wireless communication subsystems typically used in many sensor network node devices is presented. Simple power consumption models for major components are individually identified, and the effective transmission range of a sensor node is modeled by the output power of the transmitting power amplifier, sensitivity of the receiving low noise amplifier, and RF environment. Using this basic model, conditions for minimum sensor network power consumption are derived for communication of sensor data from a source device to a destination node. Power consumption model parameters are extracted for two types of wireless sensor nodes that are widely used and commercially available. For typical hardware configurations and RF environments, it is shown that whenever single hop routing is possible it is almost always more power efficient than multi-hop routing. Further consideration of communication protocol overhead also shows that single hop routing will be more power efficient compared to multi-hop routing under realistic circumstances. This power consumption model can be used to guide design choices at many different layers of the design space including, topology design, node placement, energy efficient routing schemes, power management and the hardware design of future wireless sensor network devices