Les réseaux de capteurs sans fil sont utilisés dans de nombreuses applications de surveillance de l’environnement (par exemple, pour surveiller les volcans ou pour détecter les incendies de forêts). Dans de telles applications, les nœuds capteurs disposent d’une quantité limitée d’énergie, mais doivent fonctionner pendant des années sans avoir leurs batteries changées. La principale méthode utilisée pour permettre aux nœuds d’économiser leur énergie est de séquencer les périodes d’activité et d’inactivité. Cependant, la conception de protocoles MAC et de routage pour les applications avec des taux d’activité faibles est un défi. Dans cette thèse nous proposons des protocoles MAC avec de très faibles taux d’activité (moins de 1% d’activité) et des protocoles de routages adaptés pour des réseaux de capteurs sans fil dédiés aux applications de surveillance environnementale. Nos protocoles sont analysés et comparés aux protocoles existants par simulation et par expérimentation sur des nœuds TelosB. Malgré un taux d’activité très faible pour tous les nœuds, nos protocoles sont capables d’obtenir de bonnes performances, contrairement aux autres protocoles de la littérature, qui ne sont pas adaptés à opérer avec de faibles taux d’activité. / Wireless sensor networks are used in many environmental monitoring applications (e.g., to monitor forest fires or volcanoes). In such applications, sensor nodes have a limited quantity of energy, but must operate for years without having their batteries changed. The main mechanism used to allow nodes to save energy is to sequence periods of activity and inactivity. However, the design of MAC and routing protocols for applications with low duty-cycle is still a challenge. In this thesis, we proposed unsynchronized MAC and routing protocols for wireless sensor networks devoted to environmental monitoring applications. The main specificity of our protocols is that they are adapted to very low duty-cycle (less than 1 % for all nodes). Our protocols are analyzed and compared to existing protocols by simulation and experimentation on TelosB nodes. Despite this low duty-cycle for all nodes, our protocols are able to achieve good performance, unlike other protocols in the literature, which are not adapted to these extreme conditions.

Submitted by DOUGLAS CARVALHO MORAIS (morais.sccp.carvalho@gmail.com) on 2018-04-26T20:36:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RETIFICADOR TRIFÁSICO BOOST SEM PONTE DE DIODOS, COM ELEVADO FATOR DE POTÊNCIA E CONTROLE POR RAZÃO CÍCLICA VARIÁVEL.pdf: 3578931 bytes, checksum: 59462e5e8af8153b4c38efb1636c59de (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Cristina Alexandra de Godoy null (cristina@adm.feis.unesp.br) on 2018-04-27T12:43:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 morais_dc_me_ilha.pdf: 3578931 bytes, checksum: 59462e5e8af8153b4c38efb1636c59de (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-27T12:43:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 morais_dc_me_ilha.pdf: 3578931 bytes, checksum: 59462e5e8af8153b4c38efb1636c59de (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho tem como objetivo a proposição de um retificador trifásico boost semi-controlado, com correção ativa do fator de potência, que faça uso de técnicas de controle de razão cíclica variável, visando reduzir o conteúdo harmônico de corrente em baixa frequência. O conversor proposto opera em modo de condução descontínua, desta forma, a corrente de entrada segue uma envoltória senoidal. Além disso, devido ao modo de condução, o conversor apresenta a entrada em condução da chave com corrente nula, diminuindo assim, as perdas por chaveamento. Inicialmente, são apresentados, estudos teóricos da topologia em questão e, por meio de gráficos e equações, verifica-se a distorção harmônica imposta devida à operação com razão cíclica constante. Funções que permitam a variação permanente da razão cíclica, durante um ciclo da rede, serão apresentadas. Tais funções possuem o intuito de minimizar a distorção harmônica da corrente de entrada, com foco principal na 5ª componente harmônica. Resultados de simulação demonstram eficácia das técnicas de controle por razão cíclica variável e apontam redução no conteúdo harmônico de corrente. Resultados experimentais demonstram conteúdo harmônico de corrente em torno de 18% para operação do conversor com razão cíclica constante. A utilização de razão cíclica variável proporciona uma redução no conteúdo harmônico de corrente para 13%, resultando em um aumento do fator de potência. / This work aims propose a three-phase rectifier boost half-controlled, with power factor correction, that makes use variable duty cycle control techniques, in order to reduce the harmonic content of current in low frequency. The proposed converter operates in a discontinuous current conduction mode, this way, the input current is naturally corrected. Moreover, due to the conduction mode, the converter presents entry in conduction of switch with null current, thus decreasing, the losses by switching. Initially, are presented theoretical studies of the topology in question and, through of graphs and equations, the harmonic distortion imposed by operation due constant duty cycle is verified. Functions that allow permanently the variation of duty cycle, during a network cycle, are presented. These functions have as main objective minimize the harmonic distortion in the input current, with focus in the 5th harmonic component. Simulation results demonstrate efficacy of techniques by variable duty cycle control and indicate a reducing of harmonic content of current. Experimental results demonstrate a reducing around 18% for operation with constant duty cycle. The use of variable duty cycle provides a reducing around 13%, resulting in an increase of the power factor.

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and Cognitive Radios (CRs) pave the way for next-generation radio technology. They promise versatility, flexibility and cognition which can revolutionize communications systems. However they present greater challenges to the design of radio frequency (RF) front-ends. RF front-ends for the radios in use today are narrow-band in their frequency response and are optimized and tuned to the carrier frequency of interest. SDRs and CRs demand front-ends which are versatile, configurable, tunable and be capable of transmitting and receiving signals with different bandwidths and modulation schemes. Integrating power amplifiers (PAs) with transmitters in CMOS has many advantages and challenges. This thesis deals with the design of an RF transmitter front-end for SDRs and CRs in CMOS. The thesis begins with an introduction to SDRs and the requirements they place on transmitters and the challenges involved in designing them in CMOS. After a brief overview of the existing techniques, the proposed architecture is presented and explained. A digitally intensive transmitter solution is proposed. The transmitter covers a wide frequency range of 750 MHz to 2.5 GHz. The inputs to the proposed transmitter are in-phase and quadrature (I & Q) data bit streams. Multiple stages of up-sampling and filtering are used to remove all spurs in the spectrum such that only the harmonics of the carrier remain. Differential rail-to-rail quadrature clocks are generated from a continuous wave signal at twice the carrier frequency. The clocks are corrected for their duty cycle and quadrature impairments. The heart of the transmitter is an integrated reconfigurable CMOS power amplifier (PA). A methodology to design reconfigurable Class E PAs with a series fixed inductor has been presented. A CMOS power amplifier that can span a wide frequency range with sufficient output power and efficiency, supporting varying envelope complex modulation signals, with good linearity has been designed. Digital pre-distortion (DPD) is used to linearize the PA. The full transmitter and the clock correction blocks have been designed and fabricated in a commercial 130-nm CMOS process and experimentally characterized. The PA delivers a maximum power of 13 dBm with an efficiency of 27% at 1 GHz. While transmitting a 16-QAM signal at 1 GHz, the measured EVM is 4%. It delivers a maximum power of around 11-13 dBm from 750 MHz to 1.5 GHz and up to 6.5 dBm of power till 2.5 GHz. Comparing the proposed system with recently published literature, it can be seen that the proposed design is one of the very few transmitters which has an integrated matching network, tunable across the frequency range. The proposed PA produces the highest output power and with largest efficiency for systems with on-chip output networks.

Le monde des réseaux de capteurs sans fil ‘RCSF’ a connu de grands progrès au cours de ces dernières années. Ainsi, les RCSF ont pu intégrer divers champs d’application (environnement, militaire, médecine, domotique ...) dont quelques-uns ayant des exigences en termes de qualité de service ‘QdS’. Cependant, la garantie de la QdS dans un RCSF pose des problèmes de recherche non triviaux, à cause de la nature peu fiable de la communication sans fil et des limitations des ressources des nœuds RCSF (processeur, mémoire, énergie ...). Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous nous sommes focalisés sur les protocoles MAC afin d’améliorer le support de QdS dans les RCSF. Plus particulièrement, le standard IEEE 802.15.4. Les mécanismes de conservation d’énergie proposés par ce standard sont efficaces et présentent une flexibilité par rapport aux besoins des applications. Néanmoins, le temps de sommeil des nœuds affecte considérablement le délai de communication, donnant naissance à un compromis énergie/délai. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons amélioré ce standard pour un meilleur support des applications temps-réel. L’approche proposée permet de réduire le délai de communication de manière significative, même pour de faibles rapports cycliques, grâce au nouveau format de la supertrame. Les performances ont été validées par simulation et sur des plateformes de nœuds RCSF réelles. Nous avons proposé également un modèle de simulation pour le standard IEEE 802.15.4 sous le simulateur NS-3. / In the last years, Wireless Sensor Networks ‘WSN’ knew a tremendous evolution which attracted many applications. WSN has several characteristics that make it a unique research field, such as, WSN nodes’ constraints and the unreliable (lossy) wireless communication. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is the first standard designed for this type of networks known as LR-WPANs ‘Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network’. The energy conservation mechanism proposed by the current standard is quite efficient and very flexible. This flexibility comes from the ability to configure different duty cycles to meet specific applications’ requirements. However, this mechanism has a considerable impact on the end-to-end delay. Our approach resolves the energy/delay trade-off by avoiding the storage of the real-time data in the coordinator during sleep time, more particularly in Multi-source Multi-sink networks. A new superframe structure is adopted and a deterministic reception scheduling is used. In this thesis, we also proposed a new WPAN model for the Network Simulator 3 ‘NS-3’.

A wireless sensor network is a distributed network system consisting of miniature spatially distributed autonomous devices designed for using sensors to sense the environment and cooperatively perform a specific goal. Each sensor node contains a limited power source, a sensor and a radio through which it can communicate with other sensor nodes within its communication radius. Since these sensor nodes may be deployed in inaccessible terrains, it might not be possible to replace their power sources. The radio transceiver is the hardware component that uses the most power in a sensor node and the optimisation of this element is necessary to reduce the overall energy consumption. In the data link layer there are several major sources of energy waste which should be minimised to achieve greater energy efficiency: idle listening, overhearing, over-emitting, network signalling overhead, and collisions. Sleep scheduling utilises the low-power sleep state of a transceiver and aims to reduce energy wastage caused by idle listening. Idle listening occurs when the radio is on, even though there is no data to transmit or receive. Collisions are reduced by using medium reservation and carrier sensing; collisions occur when there are simultaneous transmissions from several nodes that are within the interference range of the receiver node. The medium reservation packets include a network allocation vector field which is used for virtual carrier sensing which reduces overhearing. Overhearing occurs when a node receives and decodes packets that are not destined to it. Proper scheduling can avoid energy wastage due to over-emitting; over-emitting occurs when a transmitter node transmits a packet while the receiver node is not ready to receive packets. A protocol stack is proposed that achieves an ultra-low duty cycle sleep schedule. The protocol stack is aimed at large nodal populations, densely deployed, with periodic sampling applications. It uses the IEEE 802.15.4 Physical Layer (PHY) standard in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. A novel hybrid data-link/network cross-layer solution is proposed using the following features: a global sleep schedule, geographical data gathering tree, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) slotted architecture, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA), Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) with a randomised contention window, adaptive listening using a conservative timeout activation mechanism, virtual carrier sensing, clock drift compensation, and error control. AFRIKAANS : 'n Draadlose sensor-netwerk is 'n verspreide netwerk stelsel wat bestaan uit miniatuur ruimtelik verspreide outonome toestelle wat ontwerp is om in harmonie saam die omgewing te meet. Elke sensor nodus besit 'n beperkte bron van energie, 'n sensor en 'n radio waardeur dit met ander sensor nodusse binne hulle kommunikasie radius kan kommunikeer. Aangesien hierdie sensor nodusse in ontoeganklike terreine kan ontplooi word, is dit nie moontlik om hulle kragbronne te vervang nie. Die radio is die hardeware komponent wat van die meeste krag gebruik in 'n sensor nodus en die optimalisering van hierdie element is noodsaaklik vir die verminder die totale energieverbruik. In die data-koppelvlak laag is daar verskeie bronne van energie vermorsing wat minimaliseer moet word: ydele luister, a uistering, oor-uitstraling, oorhoofse netwerk seine, en botsings. Slaap-skedulering maak gebruik van die lae-krag slaap toestand van 'n radio met die doel om energie vermorsing wat veroorsaak word deur ydele luister, te verminder. Ydele luister vind plaas wanneer die radio aan is selfs al is daar geen data om te stuur of ontvang nie. Botsings word verminder deur medium bespreking en draer deteksie; botsings vind plaas wanneer verskeie nodusse gelyktydig data stuur. Die medium bespreking pakkies sluit 'n netwerk aanwysing vektor veld in wat gebruik word vir virtuele draer deteksie om a uistering te verminder. Afluistering vind plaas wanneer 'n nodus 'n pakkie ontvang en dekodeer maar dit was vir 'n ander nodus bedoel. Behoorlike skedulering kan energie verkwisting as gevolg van oor-uistraling verminder; oor-uistraling gebeur wanneer 'n sender nodus 'n pakkie stuur terwyl die ontvang nog nie gereed is nie. 'n Protokol stapel is voorgestel wat 'n ultra-lae slaap-skedule dienssiklus het. Die protokol is gemik op draadlose sensor-netwerke wat dig ontplooi, groot hoeveelhede nodusse bevat, en met periodiese toetsing toepassings. Dit maak gebruik van die IEEE 802.15.4 Fisiese-Laag standaard in die 2.4 GHz frekwensie band. 'n Nuwe baster datakoppelvlak/netwerk laag oplossing is voorgestel met die volgende kenmerke: globale slaap-skedulering, geogra ese data rapportering, Tyd-Verdeling-Veelvuldige-Toegang (TVVT) gegleufde argitektuur, Draer-Deteksie-Veelvuldige-Toegang met Botsing-Vermyding (DDVT/BV), Skoon-Kanaal-Assessering (SKA) met 'n wisselvallige twis-tydperk, aanpasbare slaap-skedulering met 'n konserwatiewe aktiverings meganisme, virtuele draer-deteksie, klok-wegdrywing kompensasie, en fout beheer. Copyright / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

The dissertation thesis deals with the time assessment of designed lifting mechanisms in monolithic constructions in Civil Engineering. The main reason for choosing this subject matter is a current trend in construction that in terms of administrative and housing construction tends to build monolithic buildings. Lifting mechanisms are crucial in such buildings nowadays. The efficiency of lifting mechanisms is often neglected in the preparatory phase of construction time schedules, which leads to inefficient capacity utilization of the machine. Nevertheless, this is directly related to meeting the agreed deadlines, which in turn leads to complications that often result in a considerable financial loss for the contractor. In order to solve this subject matter it was necessary to perform monitoring on an appropriate sample of constructions. In the case of this work it was a total of six buildings, four of which were further analysed. Furthermore, individual partial construction processes requiring tower crane operation were analysed. A time assessment methodology including a proposal of possible prioritization of selected activities has been developed. Based on the knowledge gained from the monitoring of the buildings as well as from the analysis of individual items, a simulation model was developed. This model mathematically and graphically evaluates the ability of the designed tower crane to serve a given number of partial construction processes within a specified evaluation section in which the smallest evaluated section equals to one work shift. The benefit of this work is to enable efficient deployment of the tower crane in the preparatory phase of construction. Another benefit is also a prompt operative assessment of the load of the tower crane by a works foreman within a given shift. This should lead to a more efficient deployment of tower cranes during construction and as a consequence it should result in keeping the agreed terms. This is closely associated

This works focusesof the propose and realization device for drive four quadrant bridge convertor with transistors IGBT. Final propose include drive unipolar and bipolar, choice between direct or alternative modulation.

Drahtlose Sensornetze können Zustände physikalischer Größen messen und an eine Basisstation (Datensenke) melden. Durch die geographische Verteilung der Sensorknoten und die Bedingungen bei der Mehrwegeausbreitung kann die Situation auftreten, dass nicht alle Sensorknoten direkten Kontakt zur Basisstation aufbauen können. Sie müssen andere Sensorknoten als Vermittlungsstation in Anspruch nehmen, um die Nachrichten an die Basisstation zu befördern. Um den Energieverbrauch zu verringern, werden Nachrichten zum einen ereignisbasiert generiert und zum anderen zeitbasiert vermittelt. Dabei beschreibt der Arbeitszyklus den Anteil der Vermittlungsaktivität am Gesamtzyklus. Derzeit verfügbare Methoden berücksichtigen allerdings nicht die Verknüpfung zwischen dem von der Anwendung generierten Verkehr und der Vermittlungshäufigkeit. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein Verfahren vorgeschlagen, mit dem der Arbeitszyklus zur Laufzeit automatisch eingestellt werden kann. Dafür wird in der Vermittlungsstation die Verkehrscharakteristik gemessen und für die Einstellung des Arbeitszyklus benutzt. Die Leistungsfähigkeit der Anpassung des Arbeitszyklus wird mit Simulationen untersucht. Sie zeigen, wie sich der Ansatz bei verschiedener Parametrierung in statischen und dynamischen Szenarien verhält. Um dem späteren Anwender der Anpassung eine Abschätzung des Verhaltens zu ermöglichen, werden zusätzlich analytische Modelle für die Analyse des statischen und dynamischen Verhaltens entwickelt. Ferner wird gezeigt, dass der entwickelte Ansatz für etablierte Standardtechniken (z. B. IEEE 802.15.4) eingesetzt werden kann. / Wireless Sensor Networks support flexible measuring of physical values. Due to the geographical distribution and multipath scattering the base station in such a network might not be reached by all sensors. Hence, other sensor nodes have to work as relay stations. At the same time, each sensor node is forced to consume as low energy as possible. In order to save energy the messages are generated event based in each sensor node and forwarded with a time triggered approach. Thereby, the duty cycle describes the portion of the relay activities in relation to the overall cycle. Currently available approaches do not properly adapt these two paradigms, event and time triggered, to each other. In this work a method to adapt the duty cycle according to the traffic is proposed. Therefore, the traffic is monitored and evaluated for traffic adaptation. Furthermore, the performance of the duty cycle adaptation is assessed using simulations. They show the behavior of the adaptation algorithm in static and dynamic scenarios with different parametrizations. The supplemental analytical models enable to easily estimate the behavior of the adaptation, in static as well as in dynamic scenarios. Also, it is shown how the duty cycle adaptation can be deployed for standard technologies like IEEE 802.15.4.

Refuse trucks, commonly referred to as garbage trucks are a critical component of a municipality’s waste management industry. Their primary purpose is to collect, transport and deposit waste from households or businesses to designated transfer sites or dumps. Historically, refuse trucks have been powered by diesel fuel. The consumption of diesel fuel paired with the frequent accelerations or decelerations between each residential household along a route attribute to high amounts of tailpipe emissions and noise pollution within neighbourhoods. There is significant opportunity to explore avenues of powertrain electrification in refuse trucks to reduce their emissions and improve energy efficiency. To rapidly test promising powertrains, vehicle software models were developed. To accurately model the energy usage and power requirements of refuse trucks, environments for the models to operate were created. The environments were created using on-board diagnostic and positional data collected from refuse trucks in the City of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. The data collection was done under a research collaboration between the City of Hamilton and the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre. The approaches used to develop the drive and duty cycles for the vehicle models offer some innovative approaches without the need for invasive devices to be installed. The powertrains that were modelled includes an all-electric, ranged extended electric and conventional refuse trucks. A comparative analysis of the pump-to-wheel powertrain efficiencies were completed looking at metrics such as fuel economy, payload capacity and fuel costs. Lastly, a look at truck emissions from a well-to-wheel perspective were completed to investigate the impact of each powertrain on greenhouse gasses and the effect on air quality of their immediate surroundings. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Durant ces dernières années, de nombreux travaux de recherches ont été menés dans le domaine des réseaux multi-sauts sans fil à contraintes (MWNs: Multihop Wireless Networks). Grâce à l'évolution de la technologie des systèmes mico-electro-méchaniques (MEMS) et, depuis peu, les nanotechnologies, les MWNs sont une solution de choix pour une variété de problèmes. Le principal avantage de ces réseaux est leur faible coût de production qui permet de développer des applications ayant un unique cycle de vie. Cependant, si le coût de fabrication des nœuds constituant ce type de réseaux est assez faible, ces nœuds sont aussi limités en capacité en termes de: rayon de transmission radio, bande passante, puissance de calcul, mémoire, énergie, etc. Ainsi, les applications qui visent l'utilisation des MWNs doivent être conçues avec une grande précaution, et plus spécialement la conception de la fonction de routage, vu que les communications radio constituent la tâche la plus consommatrice d'énergie.Le but de cette thèse est d'analyser les différents défis et contraintes qui régissent la conception d'applications utilisant les MWNs. Ces contraintes se répartissent tout le long de la pile protocolaire. On trouve au niveau application des contraintes comme: la qualité de service, la tolérance aux pannes, le modèle de livraison de données au niveau application, etc. Au niveau réseau, on peut citer les problèmes de la dynamicité de la topologie réseau, la présence de trous, la mobilité, etc. Nos contributions dans cette thèse sont centrées sur l'optimisation de la fonction de routage en considérant les besoins de l'application et les contraintes du réseau. Premièrement, nous avons proposé un protocole de routage multi-chemin "en ligne" pour les applications orientées QoS utilisant des réseaux de capteurs multimédia. Ce protocole repose sur la construction de multiples chemins durant la transmission des paquets vers leur destination, c'est-à-dire sans découverte et construction des routes préalables. En permettant des transmissions parallèles, ce protocole améliore la transmission de bout-en-bout en maximisant la bande passante du chemin agrégé et en minimisant les délais. Ainsi, il permet de répondre aux exigences des applications orientées QoS.Deuxièmement, nous avons traité le problème du routage dans les réseaux mobiles tolérants aux délais. Nous avons commencé par étudier la connectivité intermittente entre les différents et nous avons extrait un modèle pour les contacts dans le but pouvoir prédire les future contacts entre les nœuds. En se basant sur ce modèle, nous avons proposé un protocole de routage, qui met à profit la position géographique des nœuds, leurs trajectoires, et la prédiction des futurs contacts dans le but d'améliorer les décisions de routage. Le protocole proposé permet la réduction des délais de bout-en-bout tout en utilisant d'une manière efficace les ressources limitées des nœuds que ce soit en termes de mémoire (pour le stockage des messages dans les files d'attentes) ou la puissance de calcul (pour l'exécution de l'algorithme de prédiction).Finalement, nous avons proposé un mécanisme de contrôle de la topologie avec un algorithme de routage des paquets pour les applications orientés évènement et qui utilisent des réseaux de capteurs sans fil statiques. Le contrôle de la topologie est réalisé à travers l'utilisation d'un algorithme distribué pour l'ordonnancement du cycle de service (sleep/awake). Les paramètres de l'algorithme proposé peuvent être réglés et ajustés en fonction de la taille du voisinage actif désiré (le nombre moyen de voisin actifs pour chaque nœud). Le mécanisme proposé assure un compromis entre le délai pour la notification d'un événement et la consommation d'énergie globale dans le réseau. / Great research efforts have been carried out in the field of challenged multihop wireless networks (MWNs). Thanks to the evolution of the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology and nanotechnologies, multihop wireless networks have been the solution of choice for a plethora of problems. The main advantage of these networks is their low manufacturing cost that permits one-time application lifecycle. However, if nodes are low-costly to produce, they are also less capable in terms of radio range, bandwidth, processing power, memory, energy, etc. Thus, applications need to be carefully designed and especially the routing task because radio communication is the most energy-consuming functionality and energy is the main issue for challenged multihop wireless networks.The aim of this thesis is to analyse the different challenges that govern the design of challenged multihop wireless networks such as applications challenges in terms of quality of service (QoS), fault-tolerance, data delivery model, etc., but also networking challenges in terms of dynamic network topology, topology voids, etc. Our contributions in this thesis focus on the optimization of routing under different application requirements and network constraints. First, we propose an online multipath routing protocol for QoS-based applications using wireless multimedia sensor networks. The proposed protocol relies on the construction of multiple paths while transmitting data packets to their destination, i.e. without prior topology discovery and path establishment. This protocol achieves parallel transmissions and enhances the end-to-end transmission by maximizing path bandwidth and minimizing the delays, and thus meets the requirements of QoS-based applications. Second, we tackle the problem of routing in mobile delay-tolerant networks by studying the intermittent connectivity of nodes and deriving a contact model in order to forecast future nodes' contacts. Based upon this contact model, we propose a routing protocol that makes use of nodes' locations, nodes' trajectories, and inter-node contact prediction in order to perform forwarding decisions. The proposed routing protocol achieves low end-to-end delays while using efficiently constrained nodes' resources in terms of memory (packet queue occupancy) and processing power (forecasting algorithm). Finally, we present a topology control mechanism along a packet forwarding algorithm for event-driven applications using stationary wireless sensor networks. Topology control is achieved by using a distributed duty-cycle scheduling algorithm. Algorithm parameters can be tuned according to the desired node's awake neighbourhood size. The proposed topology control mechanism ensures trade-off between event-reporting delay and energy consumption.