Intelligent Real-Time Adaptation for Power Efficiency in Sensor Networks

This paper presents an intelligent, dynamic power conservation scheme for sensor networks in which the sensor network operation is adaptive to both changes in the objects under measurement and the network itself. The conservation scheme switches sensor nodes between a sleep and an active mode in a manner such that the nodes can maximize the time they spend in a power-efficient sleep state, which corresponds to a nonmeasuring and/or nontransmitting mode, while not missing important events. A switching decision is made based on changes (or their absence) in the signals sensed from the environment by an intelligent agent that has been trained to determine whether or not a special event has occurred. This intelligent agent is based on a novel neural network topology that allows for a significant reduction in the resource consumption required for its training and operation without compromising its change detection performance. The scheme was implemented to control a sensor network built from a number of Telos rev. B motes currently available on the market. A few new utilities including an original neural network-based intelligent agent, a “visualizer,” a communication manager, and a scheduler have been designed, implemented, and tested. Power consumption measurements taken in a laboratory environment confirm that use of the designed system results in a significant extension of sensor network lifetime (versus “always on” systems) from a few days to a few years.