An Energy-efficient Real-Time Communication Framework for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper addresses the architecture, protocol stack and routing algorithm of a framework, called RTPAW (Real-Time Power-Aware) devised to support energy-efficient real-time communication over Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) used in monitoring applications. The aim of RTPAW is to provide soft real-time traffic with an appropriate QoS while reducing the energy consumption of the nodes, which have to work for long periods without the possibility of replacing their batteries. The proposed framework exploits the features of an Aggregation level introduced between the MAC and Routing layers. This layer mainly deals with reducing the amount of energy dissipated, while the Routing layer is entrusted with achieving the desired QoS, in terms of delivery speed, to support the transmission of soft real-time traffic. The paper presents the RTPAW performance and discusses the way there are affected by changes in the operating parameters and network load.