Simulation of Blind Flooding over Wireless Sensor Networks Based on a Realistic Battery Model

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a power constrained system, because nodes run on limited power batteries. When a node switches between modes (i.e., transmit, receive, and sleep), there are also changes related to the transition process. Although the switching energy is considered negligible most of the time, it is strongly dependent on the technology (e.g., the radio) deployed on the nodes. Most of the time, the switching energy is neglected to simplify the simulation process. To better understand energy consumption in a WSN, it is necessary to adopt a more realistic battery model. Network simulators usually employ the linear discharge model. This model is simple, but far from reality, leading to wrong conclusions like, for example, that switching energy necessarily implies on energy consumption. Getting a more accurate measure for the energy consumption of a sensor network may lead to better estimates for the network lifetime. To better understand the impact of a more realistic battery model on the simulation of a WSN, we compare the results for blind flooding using the standard battery model (i.e., linear model) to the results obtained using the Rakhmatov-Vrudhula battery model which captures the non-linear battery behavior.