Lifetime and power consumption analysis of sensor networks

Power consumption and lifetime are essential features of sensor networks. On the one hand, the power consumption should be as low as possible to enable an energy-aware system. On the other hand, the lifetime should be as long as possible to ensure for a comprehensive coverage. Especially, for application of sensor networks in extreme environments, it is also necessary to achieve high reliability over the whole lifetime. However, these features are contrary and they must be optimized simultaneously to achieve an optimal performance. In this paper, we thus study the minimization of the overall power consumption for any given lifetime and any required signal quality. First, a theoretical and challenging approach is proposed, which shows the feasible boundaries for both power reduction and achievability of a certain lifetime. Then, a practical approach is shown, which is nearly optimal and fits sufficiently together with the theoretical approach. Finally, selected results are visualized to show the performance of the new methods and to discuss the power consumption of the entire sensor network.