On Maximizing the Received Data Volume in a Wireless Sensor Network

Mutual interference and battery are the main transmission issues in a wireless sensor network. Since all the data in the network flows towards the base station, the region around the base experiences the highest levels of mutual interference and data congestion. In this work we isolate and study the star network of sensors connected to the base. To facilitate our investigation we introduce a new performance measure, the data volume, which is in tune with the goal of the network. This criterion takes into account both the limited energy and the efficiency in which the energy is utilized. With the objective of maximizing the data volume received at the base station, cross layer optimization, i.e. joint scheduling and power control, is employed. We present an analytical solution to show that to maximize the data volume the best policy is for sensors to transmit sequentially. Once the optimum transmit policy for the star network is resolved, it sheds light on the optimization process for more complicated scenarios and system layouts.