Finally, to obtain a long network lifetime without sacrificing crucial aspects of quality of service (area coverage, sensing reliability, and network connectivity) in wireless sensor networks, we present sensibility-based sleeping configuration protocols (SSCPs) with two sensing models: Boolean sensing model (BSM) and collaborative sensing model (CSM). (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / Furthermore, we extend the traditional reliability analysis. Wireless networks inherit the unique handoff characteristic which leads to different communication structures of various types with a number of components and links. Therefore, the traditional definition of two-terminal reliability is not applicable anymore. We propose a new term, end-to-end mobile reliability, to integrate those different communication structures into one metric, which includes not only failure parameters but also service parameters. Nevertheless, it is still a monotonically decreasing function of time. With the proposed end-to-end mobile reliability, we could identify the reliability importance of imperfect components in wireless networks. / The emerging mobile wireless environment poses exciting challenges for distributed fault-tolerant (FT) computing. This thesis develops a message logging and recovery protocol on the top of Wireless CORBA to complement FT-CORBA specified for wired networks. It employs the storage available at access bridge (AB) as the stable storage for logging messages and saving checkpoints on behalf of mobile hosts (MHs). Our approach engages both the quasi-sender-based and the receiver-based message logging techniques and conducts seamless handoff in the presence of failures. / Then we extend the analysis of the program execution time without and with checkpointing in the presence of MH failures from wired to wireless networks. Due to the underlying message-passing communication mechanism, we employ the number of received computational messages instead of time to indicate the completion of program execution at an MH. Handoff is another distinct factor that should be taken into consideration in mobile wireless environments. Three checkpointing strategies, deterministic, random, and time-based checkpointing, are investigated. In our approach, failures may occur during checkpointing and recovery periods. / Chen Xinyu. / "June 2005." / Adviser: Michael R. Lyu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: B, page: 3889. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-198). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.