Intellectual Merit

WSNs are generally used to monitor a large area where sensor nodes are randomly distributed, so replacing the nodes’ batteries is not feasible. The successful applications of WSNs heavily rely on designs of efficient communication protocols and energy-aware node architecture. This project addresses designing and implementation of:

1. Efficient low power methodologies at all of the WSNs design layers, from the application layer to the physical layer
2. A new WSNs sensor node, Bulldog Mote using various low power methodologies
3. Energy harvesting technologies for sensor node architecture.

Proposed techniques include on demand sensor data, UDP and ACK mechanism, RDC clock scheduling, routing protocol and RSSI/LQI smart transmitting. A low power design model will be created for designing such an embedded device and made available to educators, students and engineers who are working in the related areas.

This research will provide the knowledge necessary to design enhanced sensor nodes for wireless sensor networks in terms of power consumption and communication ability. The same low-power design techniques can be used for a variety of other power-constrained applications such as consumer electronics and medical devices.