Connectivity Estimation Approaches for Internet of Things-Enabled Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Internet of things (IoT) envisions a network of billions of devices having various hardware and software capabilities communicating through internet infrastructure to achieve common goals. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) having hundreds or even thousands of sensor nodes are positioned at the communication layer of IoT. In this study, the authors work on the connectivity estimation approaches for IoT-enabled WSNs. They describe the main ideas and explain the operations of connectivity estimation algorithms in this chapter. They categorize the studied algorithms into two divisions as 1-connectivity estimation algorithms (special case for k=1) and k-connectivity estimation algorithms (the generalized version of the connectivity estimation problem). Within the scope of 1-connectivity estimation algorithms, they dissect the exact algorithms for bridge and cut vertex detection. They investigate various algorithmic ideas for k connectivity estimation approaches by illustrating their operations on sample networks. They also discuss possible future studies related to the connectivity estimation problem in IoT.