Lifetime Bounds of Wi-Fi Enabled Sensor Nodes

Wireless sensor and actuator networks are often deployed in areas that already have a wireless infrastructure. Coexisting in this infrastructure is a challenge, as the used communication techniques interfere. Instead of fighting to fit in, one could try to tap into the existing infrastructure. This solves the coexistence problem, does not require new infrastructure and makes the integration of systems trivial. To determine the feasibility of such a solution, our work focuses on analysing energy consumption and power management policies of Wi-Fi enabled nodes based on recent hardware. Our analysis shows that for some tasks, Wi-Fi nodes are becoming a viable option and it may not be necessary to retain the current practice of deploying and maintaining specialised wireless sensor and actuator networks.