J Shanghai Univ (Engl Ed), 2010, 14(1): 3944 Digital Object Identier(DOI): 10.

1007/s11741-010-0108-1

Power-ecient topologies for wireless sensor networks with xed communication range
JIN Yan-liang ( XIONG Yong (

) ,
1

MIAO Hui-jun (

)1 ,

WANG Hui (

) ,
2

GE Quan (

)1 ,

1. Key Laboratory of Special Fiber Optics and Optical Access Networks, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 P. R. China 2. CNRS-IBISC Research Laboratory, University of Evry Val dEssonne, Paris, France 3. Key Laboratory of Wireless Sensor Network and Communication, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P. R. China (Communicated by FANG Yong)
Shanghai University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Abstract The expectations for sensor networks are growing. The performance of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is greatly inuenced by their network topology. In this paper, we consider four patterned topologies that best support connectivity among these deployed sensor nodes in two-tiered WSNs. The theoretical and simulation results show that the triangle-based topology has smaller cell number, shorter maximum hop length, less total energy consumption, and better performance than other topologies. The analysis carried out in this paper could provide the guidelines for network deployment and protocol design in the future applications. Keywords wireless sensor network (WSN), network topology, coverage, connectivity

Introduction
Recent advances in wireless communication and MEMS-based sensor technology have enabled the development of relatively inexpensive and low-power wireless sensor nodes (SNs). These typical sensor networks consist of a large number of small battery powered devices with wireless connectivity. Nodes sense the environment information and send their reports toward a processing center that is called sink or base station (BS), where the data will be made available to the end user. Such networks have a wide range of potential applications, from military surveillance to habitat monitoring[12]. All issues in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are related to one fundamental and important issue, that is, how to organize the network structure of the deployed nodes for keeping connected coverage in a WSN with as less power consumption as possible. Network topology is a critical issue because it aects the cost and detection capability of a WSN. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to study on constructing a connected-coverage WSN while consuming as least

energy as possible so as to maximize the network lifetime. In [3], the authors studied the eect of choosing dierent topologies on the power dissipated in the network with all other parameters xed and presented the directional source aware protocol (DSAP). The performance measures among all dierent patterned topologies were compared[4] . Most of research (e.g., [34]) on the node deployment problem is about connecting coverage of the sensing eld completely in the one-tiered WSNs. When many SNs are to be placed in a wide area, an eective approach is stochastic node placement, whereby sensors may be scattered in a random manner. In order to achieve higher energy eciency and assure longer network lifetime, SNs can be organized hierarchically by grouping them into clusters, where data is collected and processed locally at the cluster head (CH) nodes before being sent to the BS. In this paper, we address the issue of keeping connected coverage of the two-tiered WSNs with power eciency from the topological point of view. In the two-tiered WSNs considered in this paper, small (even tiny) SNs are deployed in clusters around strategic loca-

Received Oct.18, 2009; Revised Dec.5, 2009 Project supported by the Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (Grant Nos.S30108, 08DZ2231100), the Science Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Grant No.09YZ33), and the Science Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology (Grant No.08220510900) Corresponding author JIN Yan-liang, Ph D, E-mail: jinyanliang@sta.shu.edu.cn

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tions to capture essential information in terms of video or audio stream, temperature reading, motion measure, and so on. In addition, there is one CH in the same cluster and clusters are placed in strip, hexagon, square, and triangle-based topologies. We will discuss all these topology patterns and compare the performance of WSNs in dierent patterns. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 1, the network model and energy model are discussed. Section 2 presents the theoretical analysis of dierent patterned topologies. Then, simulation and discussion of the key results of this work are presented in Section 3, and Section 4 concludes the paper.

become a CH. The energy consumption of the BS and the clustering algorithms are not included in our study.

1.2

Energy consumption model

We use a simple communication model for the transceiver similar to the one in [8]. In a cluster, the amount of energy consumption to transmit a packet over distance x is given as Et (x) = a + bx , (1)

1 Network model
1.1 Two-tiered WSNs
A two-tiered WSN, as shown in Fig.1, consists of a number of SN/CH clusters and at least one BS[5] . In each cluster, there are many SNs and at least one CH. SNs are responsible for all sensing-related activities: Once triggered by an internal timer or an external event, an SN starts to capture live information that will be encoded by the SN and directly transmitted to a CH in the same cluster. SNs are small, low cost and disposable, and can be densely deployed within a cluster. SNs do not communicate with other SNs in the same or other clusters, and usually are independently operated. CHs, on the other hand, have much more responsibilities than SNs. A CH receives raw data from all active SNs in the cluster and relays them to the BS. It may also instruct SNs to be in sleep, idle, or active state if some SNs are found to always generate uninterested or duplicated data, thereby allowing these SNs to be reactivated later when some existing active SNs run out of energy. The BS can also serve as a gateway for WSNs to exchange data and control information with other networks.

where a is the amount of the energy spent in the transmitter electronics circuitry, bx the amount of the energy spent in the radio frequency (RF) ampliers to counter the propagation loss, 2 the path loss factor. The amount of energy consumption to receive a packet is given as Er = c, (2)

where c is the amount of the energy spent in the receiver electronics circuitry. Therefore, for a CH to relay a bypassing packet and to forward it further over distance x, the power consumption is Ef (x) = Et (x) + Er = a + bx + c. (3)

Similarly, the amount of energy consumption to transmit a packet from the CH to CH or BS is given as Et (x) = a + b x , (4)

where a , b , have the same denitions. The amount of energy consumption to receive a packet from other CHs is given as Er = c , where c has the same denition as c. (5)

1.3

Patterned topologies for two-tiered WSNs

Fig.1

Two-tiered architecture of WSNs

There are N SNs uniformly distributed in a square region with the side length R on the plane. During each data gathering cycle, each SN senses and sends its sensed data to its CH. A BS collects the data from the CH by multi-hop communication mode. We can use the distributed clustering algorithm, such as LEACH[6] , SEP[7] , to select the CH and every SN has a chance to

As was discussed in [4], the clusters can be placed in strip, triangle, square, and hexagon-based topologies. We will discuss all these topology patterns in this section and compare the performance of WSNs in dierent patterns. 1.3.1 Two-tiered WSN with strip-based topology In strip-based WSNs, the cells are organized using the strip mode and each cell has four neighboring cells located around it and overlaps with the left one and the right one. Connecting all cells to their neighboring cells obtains the minimum unit in the shape of strip. Thus the WSN in this topology pattern is called the stripbased WSN, as shown in Fig.2. Every SN can become the CH and it can place at any location of the cell.

J Shanghai Univ (Engl Ed), 2010, 14(1): 3944

41

the same manner as above, the distances of the cell to its neighboring cells are set to the transmission range rc . Figure 3 is a triangle-based WSN with 7 cells deployed. Thus, the transmission range rc also is (11) rc = 13 lTR .

Fig.2

WSN with strip-based topology

The distances of the cell to its neighboring cells are set to the transmission range rc so that direct communication is available between the cell and its neighboring cells. When the CH requires sending a packet to the BS using a multi-hop forwarding scheme, the packet must be relayed through other CHs. Figure 2 is a stripbased WSN with 7 cells deployed. Thus, the transmission range rc is (6) rc = 13 lST . In this strip-based WSN, the maximum communication distance of two neighboring cells in a row is 3lST and the distance of two neighboring cells in a column is 3 lST . Hence, the number of the cell in a row is lST (M + 1) = R M = R lST
+

Fig.3

WSN with triangle-based topology

Similarly in this triangle-based WSN, the maximum communication distance of two neighboring cells in a row and in a column both are 13 lTR . In addition, the number of the cells in a row is M= R 3 lTR
+

1.

(12)

The number of the cells in a column is N= 2 R 2 lTR 3 lTR

+

1,

(7)

(13)

where []+ is an integer greater than or equal to . The number of the cells in a column is R 3lST N = R N = 3 lST
+

Thus, the total number of the cells is MN = R 3 lTR

+

(8)

1
+

2(R 2 lTR ) 3 lTR

+

Thus, the total number of the cells is MN = R lST

+

1
+

R 3 lST
+

2R2 2 3 3 lTR

26R2 2 3 3rc

(14)

R2 2 3 lST

13R2 = 2 3rc

(9)

The maximum hop number is 13R R M = = . H= 2 2 3 lTR 2 3rc 1.3.3

(15)

The maximum hop number is H= R M +N R (1 + 3) 13R = + = . (10) 2 2lST 2 3 lST 2 3rc

1.3.2

Two-tiered WSN with triangle-based topology In triangle-based WSNs, each cell has six neighboring cells located uniquely around the cell. Connecting all cells to their neighboring cells obtains the minimum unit in the shape of triangle. Thus the WSN in this topology pattern is called the triangle-based WSN. In

Two-tiered WSN with square-based topology In square-based WSNs, each cell has eight neighboring cells located uniquely around the cell. Connecting all cells to their neighbor cells obtains the minimum unit in the shape of square. Thus the WSN in this topology pattern is called the square-based WSN. The distances of the cell to its neighboring cells are set to the transmission range rc . A WSN composed of 9 cells is given in Fig.4. Thus, the transmission range rc is (16) rc = 5 lSQ .

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Similarly in this hexagon-based WSN, the maximum communication distance of two neighbor cells in a row and in a column both are 3lHE , and the number of the cells in a row is M= 2R 3 lHE
+

1.

(22)

The number of the cells in a column is

Fig.4 WSN with square-based topology

N=

R lHE

2.

(23)

Similarly in this square-based WSN, the maximum communication distance of two neighboring cells in a row and in a column both are 5lSQ and the number of the cells in a row is R M= 5 lSQ N = M. Thus, the total number of the cells is MN = R lSQ R2 2 lSQ
+ +

Thus, the total number of the cells is MN = 2R 3lHE

+

R lHE
+

(17)

The number of the cells in a column is (18) R lSQ =

+

2R2 2 3 lHE

6 3R2 2 rc

(24)

The maximum hop number is H= 4R (3 + 3). 3rc (25)

5R2 2 rc

(19)

The maximum hop number is 5R N R M + =2 = . (20) H= 2 2 2lSQ rc 1.3.4 Two-tiered WSN with hexagon-based topology In hexagon-based WSNs, each cell has three neighboring cells located uniquely around the cell. Connecting all cells to their neighboring cells yields the minimum unit in the shape of hexagon. Thus the WSN in this topology pattern is called the hexagon-based WSN. The distances of the cell to its neighbor cells are all set to the transmission range rc . Figure 5 species a WSN with hexagon-based topology. Thus, the transmission range is rc = 3 lHE . (21)

2 Theoretical analysis of dierent patterned topologies

In the previous sections, we present the major network model. In addition, we summarize them and give a detailed description in this section. Given the same coverage area RR and the xed communication range, we compare the above four types of the patterned topologies on side length of the cell, sensing range, number of the cells, reliability and the maximum hop number. Assuming R >> {lST , lTR , lSQ , lHE , rc }, we do not consider the marginal places covered by edge cells because the marginal area exists only in a few places and occupies a negligible portion of the whole coverage area of the WSN which often includes a huge number of cells. The number of the cells is very large and []+ equals . Thus, we use instead of []+ in the following. Table 1 gives the results of these performances comparison of the four patterned topologies. From the Table 1, we can see that square-based topology provides the largest cell side length and the smallest cell number with the xed communication range and the same coverage area. WSNs in hexagonbased topology provide the best reliability and the best sensing strength while trading o largest cell number and largest sensing length. WSNs in triangle-based topology provide the smallest hop number and energy consumption. These conclusions hold when comparison is performed in general cases of large-scale WSNs.

Fig.5

WSN with hexagon-based topology

J Shanghai Univ (Engl Ed), 2010, 14(1): 3944 Table 1

Topology pattern Strip-based Triangle-based Square-based Hexagon-based

43

Performance compassion of dierent patterned topologies

Sensing range 2rc 13 2rc 13 2rc 5 2rc 3 Number of the cell 13R2 2 3rc 26R2 2 3 3rc 5R2 r2 c 6 3R2 2 rc Sensing reliability 1.5 1.0 1.0 2.0 Maximum hop number (1 + 3) 13R 2 3rc 13R 2 3rc 5R rc 4R (3 + 3) 3rc

Side length of the cell rc 13 rc 13 rc 5 rc 3

3 Simulation results
In this section, we simulate the performance of different topologies when the coverage area R R and the communication range rc are xed respectively. The BS is located at the center of the square sensing eld. Figure 6(a) shows the number of the cells and the communication range rc with the xed side length of the sensing area, R=100 000 m. The number of the cell decreases when the communication range is increasing and tend to the same value. The triangle-based and squarebased topologies have the smallest cell number and have the same number. The hexagon-based topology has the largest cell number. In Fig.6(b), the number of the cell increases with the enlarging sensing area when the communication range is xed. The simulation results are similar to the ones shown in Fig.6(a).

the shortest hop length and the hexagon-based topology has the longest hop length.

Fig.7

Maximum hop number vs. the communication range rc and the sensing area R R in dierent topologies Table 2 Energy consumption model
Cluster member node (per packet) a + bx c 0.21mJ + 0.42x2 mJ 0.21mJ + 54.6x4 nJ 0.21mJ

Cluster head node (per packet) a + b x c 0.21mJ + 0.42x2 mJ 0.21mJ + 54.6x4 nJ 0.21mJ

Note: The height of the transmission and receiving antenna is 0.15 m. Fig.6 Number of the cells vs. the communication range rc and the sensing area R R in dierent topologies

Figure 7 shows the maximum hop number of the four patterns of topologies when the side length of the sensing area is 100 000 m and the communication range is 300 m. The maximum hop number also decreases when the communication range is increasing and increases when the side length is increasing. As the same as the simulation results in Fig.6, the triangle-based topology has

In Fig.8, a detailed view of the total communication energy consumption is illustrated for dierent patterned topologies. In this scenario, the energy consumption using for sensing is not considered. The energy consumption parameters are listed in Table 2. When =2, the total energy consumption decreases with increasing communication range. On the contrary, the energy consumption increases when =4 and the communication range increases. The performance of four patterns has a similar tendency to the one shown in Figs.6 and 7.

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4 Conclusions
In this paper, a two-tiered WSN with strip, triangle, square, and hexagon-based topologies has been studied. In the discussion, the communication range is xed and the SNs are deployed uniformly. The theoretical and simulation results show that the triangle-based topology has smaller cell number, shorter maximum hop length, less total energy consumption, and better performance than other topologies. The analysis carried out in this paper might provide the guidelines for network deployment and protocol design in the future applications. For further study, we will investigate the power eciency of dierent topologies when the SNs are deployed randomly. Acknowledgements
Fig.8 Communication energy consumption vs. =2 and =4 with xed R in dierent topologies The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their detailed comments on earlier versions of this paper.

References
[1] Pottie G, Kaiser W. Wireless integrated network sensors [J]. Communications of the ACM, 2000, 43(5): 5158. [2] Jin Y L, Lin H J, Zhang Z M. Estimating the reliability and lifetime of wireless sensor network [C]// Proceedings of the 4th IEEE International Conference on Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing, Dalian, China. 2008. [3] Salhieh A, Weinmann J, Kochhal M, Schwiebert L. Power ecient topologies for wireless sensor networks [C]// Proceedings of the 2001 International Conference on Parallel Processing, Detroit, USA. 2001. [4] Tian H, Shen H, Matsuzawa T. Developing energyecient topologies and routing for wireless sensor networks [R]. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, NUMB 3779, 2005: 461469.

Fig.9

Total energy consumption vs. ==2 and ==4 with xed R in dierent topologies

In Fig.9, the total energy consumption of dierent patterned topologies is illustrated and the energy consumption for sensing and transmitting is considered in this simulation. The energy consumption parameters are also listed in Table 2. Note that the transmission range and the sensing range are of the same order of magnitude and set =, When ==2, the total energy consumption decreases with increasing communication range. After a minimum is achieved, the total energy consumption increases with increasing communication range. We can also see that the dierence of the total energy consumptions of dierent topologies is decreasing. When ==4 and the communication range increases, the total energy consumption increases.

[5] Pan J, Hou Y T, Cai L, Shen S X. Topology control for wireless sensor networks [C]// Proceedings of the 9th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, San Diego, USA. 2003: 286 299. [6] Heinzelman W, Chandrakasan A, Balakrishnan H. An application-specic protocol architecture for wireless microsensor networks [J]. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2002, 1(4): 660670. [7] Smaragdakis G, Matta I, Bestavros A. SEP: A stable election protocol for clustered heterogenous wireless sensor networks [C]// Proceedings of the International Workshop on Sensor and Actor Network Protocols and Applications, Boston, USA. 2004. [8] Jin Y L, Jiang Y F. Design of maximizing clustered sensor network lifetime [C]// International Conference on Innovative Computing, Information and Control, Beijing, China. 2006: 373376.