Evaluation of Lifetime Bounds of Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: In this paper we estimate lifetime bounds of a network of motes which communicate with each other using IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Different frame structures of IEEE 802.15.4 along with CSMA/CA medium access mechanism are investigated to discover the overhead of channel acquisition, header and footer of data frame, and transfer reliability during packet transmission. This overhead makes the fixed component, and the data payload makes the incremental component of a linear equation to estimate the power consumed during every packet transmission. Finally we input this per-packet power consumption in a mathematical model which estimates the lower and upper bounds of routings in the network. We also implemented a series of measurements on CC2420 radio used in a wide range of sensor motes to find the fixed and incremental components, and finally the lifetime of a network composed of the motes using this radio.