Data Fusion and Topology Control in Wireless Sensor Networks

The design of large-scale sensor networks interconnecting various sensor nodes has spurred a great deal of interest due to its wide variety of applications. Data fusion is a critical step in designing a wireless sensor network as it handles data acquired by sensory devices. Wireless sensor networks allow distributed sensing and signal processing while collaborating during energy efficient operations. Wireless sensor networks are battery powered; therefore prolonging the network lifetime through an energy aware node organization is highly desirable. The main goal of a topology control scheme in wireless sensor networks is to reduce power consumption in order to extend network lifetime. Our aim is to provide a better understanding of the current research issues in this field. The paper provides a more detailed look at some existing data fusion and topology management algorithms. The most important design issues of data fusion and topology control are also highlighted. Key-words:Wireless sensor networks, data aggregation, data fusion, topology control, protocols.