Energy-efficient search for finite-lifetime resources in sensor networks with time-constrained queries

Abstract

We examine the performance of a random-walk search algorithm for wireless sensor networks when resources are subject to limited lifetimes and queries are constrained by application-specific deadlines. Specifically, via the time-to-live and transmission range parameters, we estimate the appropriate number of resource copies that must be created within the network to minimize the total node arrival rate (the energy-centric approach) or to ensure the total proportion of queries failures does not exceed a specified threshold (the failure-centric approach). The effect of node transmission range on network performance is also investigated. We compare the results of our network simulations to our queueing-based analytic node model and find that there is an inverse relationship between transmission range and the time-to-live value required to minimize the total node arrival rate.