[Truncated abstract] Developing wireless sensor network communication protocols for industrial environments is a challenging task. The wireless channel conditions in industrial environments are harsher as a result of multipath propagation of radio signals within an environment where the mechanics of the surrounding industrial activities often lead to severe small-scale fading effects. The design of network protocols to function in such an environment needs to provide a robust communication platform for the wireless sensor nodes, while optimizing the utilization of the limited node resources available. As existing general MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks do not work well under harsh channel conditions, we address this problem in this thesis by proposing a medium access control (MAC) protocol framework for wireless sensor networks in industrial environments. To describe the impact of an automated industrial site on small-scale fading effects in an industrial indoor wireless network, we use a site-specific ray-tracer for predicting signal propagation based on building blue prints to simulate the signal propagation paths through an industrial site with periodically moving objects. We found that in a fully automated industrial site, the periodic movements of objects with constant velocities result in an approximately periodic distribution of fading periods in the channel. Based on this finding, we propose a link state dependent TDMA-based MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks designed for automated industrial applications. ... This technique also conserves energy and maximizes packet integrity as the sensor nodes avoid performing network activities when the channel is sampled to be affected by fading. As a measure for fault-tolerance, we also propose a dynamic link reconstruction technique that allows sensor nodes to reconstruct new parent links when their present links are severely affected by fading. MAC protocols that adopt active buffering in fading-affected channels suffer bufferoverflow and latency issues as a result of the postponement of scheduled transmissions during periods when the channel is in a fade. Consequently, time-sensitive data packets that may contain critical information may miss their deadlines in a severely affected fading channel. Hence, we propose a general fading-aware data management (FADE) MAC protocol extension that uses buffer nodes to offload the memory buffer off sensor nodes in the network and prioritizes traffic based on a simple proposed priority scheme. The FADE extension provides a balance balance between minimum end-to-end latency for critical event reporting, high packet delivery guarantee, low energy consumption, and minimum buffer requirements on the sensor nodes. In summary, this thesis presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of all our proposed network protocols that are combined as a framework for wireless sensor networks in industrial environments.

The focus of this thesis is on the resource allocation problems in wireless sensor and cooperative networks. Typically, wireless sensor networks operate with limited energy and bandwidth are often required to meet some specified Quality-of-Service (QoS) constraints. The ultimate objective for the majority of the problems considered in this thesis is to save battery energy and maximize the network lifetime. / In the first part of this thesis, we employ complex mathematical models to emulate a variety of power drains in wireless sensor nodes. In the first instance, we address a lifetime optimization problem of a wireless TDMA/CDMA sensor network for joint transmit power and rate allocations. The effect of fast fading is captured by including rate outage and link outage constraints on each link. After that, a single-hop wireless sensor network is deployed for a certain application - to estimate a Gaussian source within a pre-specified distortion threshold. In this part, we consider lifetime maximization, in different multiple access protocols such as TDMA, an interference limited non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and an idealized Gaussian multiple access channel. This problem is further studied in a multi-hop scenario where sensing and receiving powers are also included in addition to transmission power. Finally, we investigate a balancing problem between the source coding and transmission power for video wireless sensor systems where the sensor node is required to send the collected video clips, through wireless media, to a base station within a corresponding distortion threshold. All these energy saving and lifetime optimization problems in sensor networks can be formulated via nonlinear nonconvex optimization problems, which are generally hard to solve. However, with favourable variable substitution and reasonable approximation, most of these problems are shown to be convex. The only exception is the Gaussian source esitmation problem in NOMA scenario for which we provide a simple successive convex approximation based algorithm for the NOMA case that converges fast to a suboptimal solution. / In the second part of the thesis, we propose an optimal power allocation scheme with a K-block coding delay constraint on data transmission using a three node cooperative relay network assuming a block fading channel model. Channel information is fed back to the transmitter only in a causal fashion, so that the optimal power allocation strategy is only based on the current and past channel gains. We consider the two simplest schemes for information transmission using a three node (a source, a relay and a destination) relay network, namely the amplify and forward (AF) and decode and forward (DF) protocols. We use the dynamic programming methodology to solve the (K-block delay constrained) expected capacity maximization problem and the outage probability minimization problem with a short term sum power (total transmission power of the source and the relay) constraint. / The main contribution of the thesis is a comprehensive suite of power minimization and lifetime maximization methods that can be used in wireless sensor networks. We present several such applications and extensive numerical examples at the end of each chapter.

The Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) is one of the proposals of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for conveying Quality of Service (QoS) related information in the form of resource reservations along the communication path. The RSVP specification (i.e. Request for Comments 2205) provides a narrative description of the protocol without any use of formal techniques. Thus, some parts of the document may be ambiguous, difficult to understand, and imprecise. So far, RSVP implementations have provided the only mechanism for validating. The cost for fixing errors in the protocol found in the implementation can be high. These disadvantages together with the fact that RSVP is complex make it a good target for formal specification and verification. This thesis formally defines the RSVP Service Specification, models RSVP using a formal method known as Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) and attempts to verify the model. The following steps summarise the verification process of RSVP. Firstly, the RSVP service specification is derived from the protocol description and modelled using CPNs. After validating the model, the service language, which defines all the possible service primitive occurrence sequences, is generated from the state space of the model by using automata reduction techniques that preserve sequences. Secondly, RSVP is modelled using CPNs. The model is analysed for a set of behavioural properties. They include general properties of protocols, such as correct termination, and a set of new properties defined in this thesis, which are particular to RSVP. The analysis is based on the state space method. The properties are checked by querying the state graph and checking reachability among multiple nodes of its associated Strongly Connected Component (SCC) graph. As a first step, we analyse RSVP under the assumption of a perfect medium (no loss or duplication) to ensure that protocol errors are not hidden by rare events of the medium. The state space is reduced to obtain the sequences of service primitives allowed by RSVP known as the protocol language. Then, the protocol language is compared with the service language to determine if they are equivalent. The desired properties of RSVP are proved to be satisfied by the RSVP CPN model, so that the features of RSVP included in the CPN model operate as expected under our modelling and analysis assumptions. Also, the language analysis results show that RSVP service primitive occurrence sequences generated by the RSVP model are included in the proposed model of the service specification. However, some service primitive occurrence sequences generated from the service specification model are not in the protocol language. These sequences were analysed. There is strong evidence to suggest that these sequences would also appear in the protocol if the capacity of the medium in the RSVP model was marginally increased. Unfortunately, the standard reachability analysis tools would not handle this case, due to state space explosion. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2003

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri--Rolla, 2007. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed March 27, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-56).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Computer Science, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-200).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School Computing and Engineering. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2006. / "A dissertation in computer networking and software architecture." Advisor: Lein Harn. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Nov. 13, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-214). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri--Rolla, 2007. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 21, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 48).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed February 29, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-160)

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Computer Science and Software Engineering, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 260-271).