Epidemic spreading in wireless sensor networks with node sleep scheduling

Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have become widely used in various fields like environmental monitoring, smart agriculture, and health care. However, their extensive usage also introduces significant vulnerabilities to cyber viruses. Addressing this security issue in WSNs is very challenging due to their inherent limitations in energy and bandwidth to implement real-time security measures. To tackle the virus issue, it is crucial to first understand how it spreads in WSNs. In this brief, we propose a novel epidemic spreading model for WSNs, integrating the susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) epidemic spreading model and node probabilistic sleep scheduling--a critical mechanism for optimizing energy efficiency. Using the microscopic Markov chain (MMC) method, we derive the spreading equations and epidemic threshold of our model. We conduct numerical simulations to validate the theoretical results and investigate the impact of key factors on epidemic spreading in WSNs. Notably, we discover that the epidemic threshold is directly proportional to the ratio of node sleeping and node activation probabilities.