Wireless Sensor Networks Energy Optimization Using User Location Information in Smart Homes

Wireless sensor networks have received increased interest in different applications, including smart homes. One of the most important aspects of these networks is the energy consumption, which plays a crucial role in the usefulness of the implementations. In this paper, a new method for decreasing energy consumption is introduced. The method, called Location Based Latency Control (LBLC), will take advantage of the location information of the user in a smart home environment in order to optimize the energy-latency tradeoff present in many networks. The new method is tested by simulation based on power consumption measurements and location data gathered from a living test in actual smart home environment. The results show that using location information as a means of controlling the network parameters provides a useful and promising method in decreasing network energy consumption without sacrificing usability of the connected devices.