Otimização de parâmetros para minimização do consumo de energia em redes de sensores sem fio com restrições de atraso e confiabilidade

Abstract

Many systems present constraints of reliability and delay, which become harder to be achieved when the system operates through a wireless network. On the other hand, sensor modules in these networks need to save energy avoiding maintance costs and extending their lifetime, since these modules are usually located in places that are difficult to access. Several works have shown that is possible to reduce the energy consumption in sensor nodes optimizing wireless communication parameters. The fact that the system requires a maximum delay implies that the number of retransmissions cannot be unlimited. In this work we evaluate the energy consumption minimization, optimizing communication parameters such as the modulation order, the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio), code rate, including the number of retransmissions, in a network with reliability, latency and maximum power requirements. This work considers that the wireless links are subjected to Rayleigh fading, while we employ convolutional error correcting codes and S-HARQ (Simple-Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) as the retransmission technique. In addition, the same evaluation is made, but maximizating system’s energy efficiency, which yields small differences with respect to the case when the energy consumption is minimized. Results show that the delay constraints impact directly in communication parameters selection. Moreover, when the goal is to reduce energy consumption or to increase energy efficiency in a environment with latency constraints, it is not always a good choice to increase number of possible retransmissions. Higher delays allow the use of a large number of retransmission attempts, extending the device’s range and reducing its energy consumption. Furthermore, increasing package delivery realiability turns the communication task harder from the energy efficiency point of view.