Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have attracted growing interest from both realcustomers and the scientific community in the recent years due to their powerfulcapabilities and varied applications. Each wireless sensor node relays data to thebase station (BS) directly in the direct communication protocol. However, there aresome applications that require some of the nodes to be placed at vast distances fromthe BS, which leads to rapid reduction in the total energy of all nodes. Since energyconsumption in sensor networks is critical, many new protocols have beendeveloped to reduce losses. The Low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy(LEACH) is one of the most popular protocols that increase network lifetime byreducing losses. In this report, I survey and compare some algorithms and propose a new enhancedalgorithm for the LEACH protocol, thus saving energy and prolonging the networklifespan. MATLAB is used for simulation.

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technologies have been comprehensively developed and deployed during recent years. Since commercial WLAN and WSN products share the same free of license frequency band, the low power, low rate ZigBee based WSNs are vulnerable to the interference from Wi-Fi WLANs. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance of ZigBee WSNs that are subjected to interference generated by collocated Wi-Fi WLANs and to design effective counter-measuring techniques should performance improvement is needed. In this research, a versatile testbed for conducting various experiments is established and the ZigBee system’s performance with different clear channel assessment (CCA) modes and energy detection (ED) thresholds are evaluated through extensive experimental measurements in the testbed. It can be concluded from the results that CCA has significant impact on ZigBee’s performance. An existing theoretical analysis approach that is based on the collision time model between ZigBee and Wi-Fi packets is suitably modified to provide analytical evaluation means of the cases we examined. In order to mitigate the interference from the collocated Wi-Fi system, a novel and effective interference-aware adaptive CCA (IAACCA) scheme is proposed and implemented as firmware flashed into Crossbow motes. Experiments confirmed the ability of IAACCA to countermeasure effectively interference generated by Wi-Fi and thus improve the performance of ZigBee WSNs. Finally, a thorough statistical analysis is performed to understand the factors impacting the performance of ZigBee system and is used to further verify our experimental methods.

As redes de sensores sem fio (RSSF) ganham maior visibilidade a cada ano, e a sua utilização é cada vez mais imprescindível no sensoriamento dos mais diversos ambientes. Estas redes podem ser instaladas em praticamente todos os tipos de ambientes, graças ao seu tamanho reduzido, sua facilidade de comunicação e seu baixo custo. Esta tecnologia permite transportar os dados através de nós que utilizam algoritmos de roteamento oferecendo resistência a falhas. O conhecimento das principais arquiteturas e dos protocolos envolvidos na comunicação, bem como do comportamento destas redes em ambientes reais, é de extrema importância para a compreensão do funcionamento da rede e dos fenômenos que afetam o seu desempenho. Este trabalho apresenta a utilização de uma RSSF baseada no dispositivo Mica2dot, desenvolvido pela Universidade de Berkeley, no monitoramento de parâmetros ambientais de uma sala limpa utilizada na construção de dispositivos semicondutores. Apresentamos a caracterização dos dispositivos e do ambiente em questão; também avaliamos dois protocolos de roteamento neste ambiente e fatores que afetam o funcionamento do sistema de rádio, como a variação do RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indicator). Os protocolos de roteamento escolhidos para esta avaliação foram o TOSB (TinyOs Beaconing), que é o protocolo padrão do sistema operacional TinyOS, e o PROC (Proactive ROuting with Coordination), que apresenta características de pró-atividade. Os protocolos foram avaliados segundo as métricas de consumo de energia e taxa média de entrega de pacotes. / Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are growing year after year, and its use is being more and more indispensable in sensing the most varied environments. These networks can be installed in almost all kinds of environments, thanks to its reduced size, its easiness of communication and its low cost. One of the main characteristics of this technology is the capacity of transporting data through the nodes that use router algorithms, offering a good resistance to failures. The knowledge of the main architectures and of the protocols involved in communication, as well the behavior of these networks in real environments, is of extreme importance to the understanding of the working conditions of the network and of the phenomena that affect its performance. This piece of work aims to present a study related to the use of a WSN based on the Mica2dot device developed by the University of Berkeley, in the monitoring of the environmental parameters of a clean room used to the construction of semiconductor devices. This work presents the characterization of the devices and of the environment in question, as well evaluates some factors that affect the working of the radio system and evaluates two router protocols in this environment. The chosen router protocols for this evaluation were TOSB (TinyOs Beaconing) that is the standard protocol of the operational system TinyOS, and PROC (Proactive Routing with Coordination), that presents some pro-active characteristics. The protocols were evaluated according to the measurement of the energy consumption and average rate of deliver of packages.

As redes de sensores sem fio (RSSF) ganham maior visibilidade a cada ano, e a sua utilização é cada vez mais imprescindível no sensoriamento dos mais diversos ambientes. Estas redes podem ser instaladas em praticamente todos os tipos de ambientes, graças ao seu tamanho reduzido, sua facilidade de comunicação e seu baixo custo. Esta tecnologia permite transportar os dados através de nós que utilizam algoritmos de roteamento oferecendo resistência a falhas. O conhecimento das principais arquiteturas e dos protocolos envolvidos na comunicação, bem como do comportamento destas redes em ambientes reais, é de extrema importância para a compreensão do funcionamento da rede e dos fenômenos que afetam o seu desempenho. Este trabalho apresenta a utilização de uma RSSF baseada no dispositivo Mica2dot, desenvolvido pela Universidade de Berkeley, no monitoramento de parâmetros ambientais de uma sala limpa utilizada na construção de dispositivos semicondutores. Apresentamos a caracterização dos dispositivos e do ambiente em questão; também avaliamos dois protocolos de roteamento neste ambiente e fatores que afetam o funcionamento do sistema de rádio, como a variação do RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indicator). Os protocolos de roteamento escolhidos para esta avaliação foram o TOSB (TinyOs Beaconing), que é o protocolo padrão do sistema operacional TinyOS, e o PROC (Proactive ROuting with Coordination), que apresenta características de pró-atividade. Os protocolos foram avaliados segundo as métricas de consumo de energia e taxa média de entrega de pacotes. / Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are growing year after year, and its use is being more and more indispensable in sensing the most varied environments. These networks can be installed in almost all kinds of environments, thanks to its reduced size, its easiness of communication and its low cost. One of the main characteristics of this technology is the capacity of transporting data through the nodes that use router algorithms, offering a good resistance to failures. The knowledge of the main architectures and of the protocols involved in communication, as well the behavior of these networks in real environments, is of extreme importance to the understanding of the working conditions of the network and of the phenomena that affect its performance. This piece of work aims to present a study related to the use of a WSN based on the Mica2dot device developed by the University of Berkeley, in the monitoring of the environmental parameters of a clean room used to the construction of semiconductor devices. This work presents the characterization of the devices and of the environment in question, as well evaluates some factors that affect the working of the radio system and evaluates two router protocols in this environment. The chosen router protocols for this evaluation were TOSB (TinyOs Beaconing) that is the standard protocol of the operational system TinyOS, and PROC (Proactive Routing with Coordination), that presents some pro-active characteristics. The protocols were evaluated according to the measurement of the energy consumption and average rate of deliver of packages.

Un réseau de capteurs sans fil (Wireless Sensor Network, WSN) consiste en une distribution spatiale d'équipements embarqués autonomes, qui coopèrent de manière à surveiller l'environnement de manière non-intrusive. Les données collectées par chaque capteur (tels que la température, des vibrations, des sons, des mouvements etc.) sont remontées de proche en proche vers un puits de collecte en utilisant des technologies de communication sans fil. Voilà une décennie que les contraintes inhérentes à ces réseaux attirent l'attention de la communauté scientifique. Ainsi, de nombreuses améliorations à différents niveaux de la pile de communication ont été proposées afin de relever les défis en termes d'économie d'énergie, de capacité de calcul et de contrainte mémoire imposés par l'utilisation d'équipements embarqués. Plusieurs déploiements couronnés de succès démontrent l'intérêt grandissant pour cette technologie. Les récentes avancées en termes d'intégration d'équipements et de protocoles de communication ont permis d'élaborer de nouveaux scénarios plus complexes. Ils mettent en scène des réseaux denses et dynamiques par l'utilisation de capteurs mobiles ou de différentes méthodes de collection de données. Par exemple, l'intérêt de la mobilité dans les WSN est multiple dans la mesure où les capteurs mobiles peuvent notamment permettre d'étendre la couverture d'un réseau, d'améliorer ses performances de routage ou sa connexité globale. Toutefois, ces scénarios apportent de nouveaux défis dans la conception de protocoles de communication. Ces travaux de thèse s'intéressent donc à la problématique de la dynamique des WSN, et plus particulièrement à ce que cela implique au niveau du contrôle de l'accès au médium (Medium Access Control, MAC). Nous avons tout d'abord étudié l'impact de la mobilité et défini deux nouvelles méthodes d'accès au médium (Machiavel et X-Machiavel) qui permettent d'améliorer les conditions d'accès au canal pour les capteurs mobiles dans les réseaux denses. Notre deuxième contribution est un algorithme d'auto-adaptation destiné aux protocoles par échantillonnage. Il vise à minimiser la consommation énergétique globale dans les réseaux caractérisés par des modèles de trafic antagonistes, en obtenant une configuration optimale sur chaque capteur. Ce mécanisme est particulièrement efficace en énergie pendant les transmissions par rafales qui peuvent survenir dans de tels réseaux dynamiques.

Localization of individual nodes in a wireless network is useful in many applications, e.g for tracking patients in hospitals. Using the Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI, for this purpose has been explored in numerous studies. It is energy efficient and rarely requires customised hardware of configuration. The possibility to use pre-configured, off-the-shelf products is especially important in large scale sensor network deployments. Using RSSI has, however, many drawbacks, since the radio signal is heavily affected by the surrounding envi- ronment. Most studies in this area discuss the impact of multipath effects. Our study on range based distance estimations, using the Telos hardware, shows that individual profiling requirements and antenna quality are equally challenging. Still, RSSI based indoor localization systems remains an active field of research. A multitude of approaches and algorithms have been proposed to gain accuracy in position estimations. The most common of these techniques are explored in this report. Based on previous work at The Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the Telos hardware has been integrated successfully with existing software to form local wireless sensor networks for indoor localization. We present applications developed on top of TinyOS, an operating system for embedded systems. These applications serve as a platform for related future work at The Polytechnic University of Catalonia and elsewhere.

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technologies have been comprehensively developed and deployed during recent years. Since commercial WLAN and WSN products share the same free of license frequency band, the low power, low rate ZigBee based WSNs are vulnerable to the interference from Wi-Fi WLANs. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance of ZigBee WSNs that are subjected to interference generated by collocated Wi-Fi WLANs and to design effective counter-measuring techniques should performance improvement is needed. In this research, a versatile testbed for conducting various experiments is established and the ZigBee system’s performance with different clear channel assessment (CCA) modes and energy detection (ED) thresholds are evaluated through extensive experimental measurements in the testbed. It can be concluded from the results that CCA has significant impact on ZigBee’s performance. An existing theoretical analysis approach that is based on the collision time model between ZigBee and Wi-Fi packets is suitably modified to provide analytical evaluation means of the cases we examined. In order to mitigate the interference from the collocated Wi-Fi system, a novel and effective interference-aware adaptive CCA (IAACCA) scheme is proposed and implemented as firmware flashed into Crossbow motes. Experiments confirmed the ability of IAACCA to countermeasure effectively interference generated by Wi-Fi and thus improve the performance of ZigBee WSNs. Finally, a thorough statistical analysis is performed to understand the factors impacting the performance of ZigBee system and is used to further verify our experimental methods.

There has been growing interest in the Mobile WSN applications where mobility is the fundamental characteristic of the sensor nodes. Mobility poses many challenges to the routing protocols used in such applications. In this thesis we evaluate the performance of Collection Tree Protocol as applied in mobile WSN scenarios. The simulation study shows CTP performs poorly in mobile scenario because of the frequent tree re-generation resulting from node movements. We compare Collection Tree Protocol with reactive ad hoc network routing protocols. The simulation results show that collection tree protocol performs better than reactive MANET protocols in terms of data delivery ratio and control overhead under low traffic rates. The end-to-end delay obtained in case of reactive protocols is also higher compared to that obtained when using CTP, which is due to their route discovery process. This thesis presents an improved data collection protocol Fixed Node Aided CTP based on the analysis of CTP. The protocol introduces the concept of fixed aided routing into CTP. It is shown that our enhanced CTP outperforms CTP in terms of data delivery ratio and control overhead chosen as performance metrics. / UOIT

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are used in many applications, for example industrial applications, automatic control applications, monitoring applications, to name but a few. Although WSN can employ different standards in order to achieve short range wireless communication, the mainstream of the market is toadopt the low-power, low-rate IEEE 802.15.4 standard. However, this standard does not specify any block codes on the Physical layer (PHY) and the MAC sublayer. Reliability and energy efficiency are two important metrics used to evaluate the WSN performance. In order to enhance the reliability of the WSN performance, schemes such as Forward Error Correction (FEC) and HybridAutomatic Repeat-reQuest (HARQ) can be introduced on the PHY and MACsublayer when transmitting signals. However, this will reduce the energy efficiency of the WSN. In order to investigate what does affect the reliability and energy efficiency, this thesis has been conducted with the assistance of Matlab simulations, which simulate different transmission schemes proposed by the authors. Based on the simulations, both the reliability and energy efficiency can be evaluated and the results are illustrated for both metrics. The objective of this thesis is to determine a scheme that is able to meet these metric requirements.

Wireless sensor network, which is constitute of autonomous sensors, is used for monitoring physical or environmental conditions like temperature, sound, pressure, and so on. The dispersed sensors or nodes will respectively pass their data through the network to the main location. Currently, several standards are ratified or in developing for wireless sensor network, like Wireless Hart, ISA, 100.11a, WIA-PAA, IEEE 802.15.4, etc. Among the standards, Zigbee is often used in industrial applications that require short-range and low-rate wireless transfer. In the research, all the data is collected under industrial environment using IEEE 802.15.4 compliant physical layer, some packets are interfered only by multi-path fading while others are also interfered by Wi-Fi interference. The goal of the thesis is to find out the dependence between the received power (RSS), correlation value (CORR) and bit error rate (BER) of the received message, and their distribution in situations both when the packet is lost or not. Besides, the performance of bit error rate such as the distribution and the features of burst error length under Wi-Fi interference or not will also be tested. All of them are based on a precise statistical processing.