Development of energy-efficient algorithms for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) require very efficient algorithms for data processing, compression and routing due to the limited resources of sensor nodes. As WSNs are commonly deployed for monitoring the remote and hazardous environments, it is not feasible to recharge or replace the battery of sensor nodes. Therefore, sensor nodes should use their energy very efficiently even when a power harvesting technique is used with the battery of limited capacity. Moreover, most of the sensors' energy is consumed by data transmission and idle listening. Therefore, the lifetime of WSNs can be significantly prolonged by using energy-efficient protocols for topology control, duty-cycling, routing, and data aggregation and compression. Aiming at developing energy efficient algorithms for WSNs, this dissertation proposes several algorithms for clock synchronization, coverage, connectivity, communication and dust storm detection. First, a recursive time synchronization protocol (RTSP) for global clock synchronization in WSNs is proposed, which provides an average accuracy of 0.23μs per hop in a large multi-hop clustered network using 7-times lesser energy than that of state-of-the-art FTSP algorithm in the long run. Second, an integrated protocol for coverage, connectivity and communication (C3) is proposed, which ensures partial coverage of more than 90% of the total deployment area, guarantees at least 1-connected network, and enables energy-efficient communication in WSNs. Finally, a sand and dust storm detection system (SDSDS) is developed, which incorporates the proposed algorithms in order to achieve high level of accuracy, reliability and energy-efficiency.