Infrastructure tradeoffs for sensor networks

In a sensor network, the infrastructure (in terms of the sensor capabilities, number of sensors, and deployment strategy) plays a significant role in determining the performance of the network. In this paper, we study the effect of infrastructure decisions on the performance of a sensor network. We study the effect of the infrastructure for two types of network delivery models (phenomenon driven and continuous) and different network protocols (DSR, DSDV and AODV). We show the performance both in terms of network efficiency as well as meeting the application accuracy and latency demands. By exploring the criteria for effective infrastructure configurations, we open the door for network optimizations that control the effective topology to better achieve the application requirements.