Trade-off between performance and energy consumption in wireless sensor networks

Nowadays WSNs support applications such as target tracking, environmental control or vehicles traffic monitoring. Generally, these applications have strong and strict requirements for end-to-end delaying and loosing during data transmissions. In this paper, we propose a practical scenario for application of the WSN field in order to illustrate selection of an appropriate approach for guaranteeing performance in a WSN-deployed application. The methodology we have used includes four major phases: 1) Requirements analysis of the application scenario; 2) QoS modelling in different layers of the communications protocol stack and selection of more suitable QoS protocols and mechanisms; 3) Definition of a simulation model based on an application scenario, to which we applied the protocols and mechanisms selected in phase 2; 4) Validation of decisions by means of simulation; and 5) analysis of results. This work has being partially developed in the framework of the CRISAL - M0700204174 project (partially funded by "Universidad Politecnica de Madrid" and "Comunidad de Madrid", Spain).