Energy Profiling for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract:

Energy constraints are one of the most crucial challenges when designing protocols and algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Thus, a deep understanding of the energy consumption within a WSN is mandatory. For this purpose, energy measurements on the real sensor node hardware provide accurate numbers for a single node. Another method is employing an abstract energy model that can be used to estimate the lifetime of the nodes and the whole network. While the first method is usually hard to deploy for large scale networks, the second approach might suffer from errors and improper generalizations of the model. In order to obtain a deeper insight of energy consumption, it would be desirable to determine the power demands in a high resolution. In this paper we are introducing an approach of detailed information reports about the energy consumption based on a fine-granular measurement using the integrated coulomb counter sensor of the evaluation platform, the MSB-A2. We will present a technique to create statistics of the demand for energy for every single node in the network in the same way as traditional software profiling is done.