Centre for Wireless

Communications

Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy Efficiency Issues

Instructor: Carlos Pomalaza-Ráez

Fall 2004
University of Oulu, Finland
 Node Energy Model
A typical node has a sensor system, A/D conversion circuitry, DSP and a
radio transceiver. The sensor system is very application dependent. As
discussed in the Introduction lecture the node communication components
are the ones who consume most of the energy on a typical wireless sensor
node. A simple model for a wireless link is shown below
 Node Energy Model

The energy consumed when sending a packet of m bits over one hop
wireless link can be expressed as,

EL (m, d ) = { ET (m, d ) + PT Tst + Eencode } + { ER (m) + PRTst + Edecode }

where,
ET = energy used by the transmitter circuitry and power
amplifier
ER = energy used by the receiver circuitry
PT = power consumption of the transmitter circuitry
PR = power consumption of the receiver circuitry
Tst = startup time of the transceiver
Eencode = energy used to encode
Edecode = energy used to decode
 Node Energy Model
Assuming a linear relationship for the energy spent per bit at the transmitter
and receiver circuitry ET and ER can be written as,

(
ET (m, d ) = m eTC + eTA d α )
E R (m) = me RC

eTC, eTA, and eRC are hardware dependent parameters and α is the path loss
exponent whose value varies from 2 (for free space) to 4 (for multipath
channel models). The effect of the transceiver startup time, Tst, will
greatly depend of the type of MAC protocol used. To minimize power
consumption it is desired to have the transceiver in a sleep mode as
much as possible however constantly turning on and off the transceiver
also consumes energy to bring it to readiness for transmission or
reception.
 Node Energy Model
An explicit expression for eTA can be derived as,
α
S  4π 
  ( NFRx )( N 0 )( BW ) 
 N r  λ 
eTA =
(Gant )(η amp )( Rbit )

Where,
(S/N)r = minimum required signal to noise ratio at the receiver’s
demodulator for an acceptable Eb/N0
NFrx = receiver noise figure
N0 = thermal noise floor in a 1 Hertz bandwidth (Watts/Hz)
BW = channel noise bandwidth
λ = wavelength in meters
α = path loss exponent
Gant = antenna gain
ηamp = transmitter power efficiency
Rbit = raw bit rate in bits per second
 Node Energy Model
The expression for eTA can be used for those cases where a particular
hardware configuration is being considered. The dependence of eTA on
(S/N)r can be made more explicit if we rewrite the previous equation as:
α
 4π 
( NFRx )( N 0 )( BW ) 
eTA = ξ ∗ ( S N ) r where ς=  λ 
(Gant )(η amp )( Rbit )

It is important to bring this dependence explicitly since it highlights

how eTA and the probability of bit error p are related. p depends on Eb/N0
which in turns depends on (S/N)r. Note that Eb/N0 is independent of the
data rate. In order to relate Eb/N0 to (S/N)r, the data rate and the system
bandwidth must be taken into account, i.e.,
 Node Energy Model
(S N ) r = ( Eb N 0 )( R BT ) = γ b ( R BT )
where
Eb = energy required per bit of information
R = system data rate
BT = system bandwidth
γb = signal-to-Noise ratio per bit, i.e., (Eb/N0)

Typical Bandwidths for Various Digital Modulation Methods

Typical Bandwidth
Modulation Method
(Null-To-Null)
QPSK, DQPSK 1.0 x Bit Rate
MSK 1.5 x Bit Rate
BPSK, DBPSK, OFSK 2.0 x Bit Rate
 Node Energy Model
Power Scenarios
There are two possible power scenarios:
 Variable transmission power. In this case the radio dynamically adjust its
transmission power so that (S/N)r is fixed to guarantee a certain level of
Eb/N0 at the receiver. The transmission energy per bit is given by,

S
Transmission energy per bit = eTAd α = ς   d α
 N r

Since (S/N)r is fixed at the receiver this also means that the probability p
of bit error is fixed to the same value for each link.
 Node Energy Model
 Fixed transmission power. In this case the radio uses a fixed power for all
transmissions. This case is considered because several commercial radio
interfaces have a very limited capability for dynamic power adjustments.
In this case eTA d α is fixed to a certain value (ETA) at the transmitter and the
(S/N)r at the receiver will then be,

S ETA
  = α
 N r ς d

Since for most practical deployments d is different for each link then
(S/N)r will also be different for each link. This translates on a different
probability of bit error for wireless hop.
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
Let’s consider the following linear sensor array

To highlight the energy consumption due only to the actual

communication process the energy spent in encoding, decoding, as well
as on the transceiver startup is not considered in the analysis that follows.
Let’s initially assume that there is one data packet being relayed from the
node farthest from the sink node towards the sink
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
The total energy consumed by the linear array to relay a packet of m bits
from node n to the sink is then,

[

] ∑ [e 
]
n
Elinear = m  eTC + eTA (d1 )α + TC + eRC α
+ eTA (d i ) 
 i =2 
or

∑ [e ]
 n 
α
= m − eRC + TC + eRC + eTA (d i ) 
 i =1 

It then can be shown that Elinear is minimum when all the distances di’s are
made equal to D/n, i.e. all the distances are equal.
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
It can also be shown that the optimal number of hops is,

 D   D 
nopt =  or  
d d
 char   char 
where
1
 e + eRC α
d char =  TC 
 eTA (α − 1) 

Note that only depends on the path loss exponent α and on the
transceiver hardware dependent parameters. Replacing the of dchar in the
expression for Elinear we have,

opt  nopt (eTC + eRC )α 

Elinear = m − e RC 
 α −1 
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
A more realistic assumption for the linear sensor array is that there is a
uniform probability along the array for the occurrence of events. In this
case, on the average, each sensor will detect the same number of number
of events whose related information need to be relayed towards the sink.
Without loss of generality one can assume that each node senses an event
at some point in time. This means that sensor i will have to relay (n-i)
packets from the upstream sensors plus the transmission of its own
packet. The average energy per bit consumption by the linear array is,

∑ [( e ) ]
n
Elinear −bit = −ne RC + TC + e RC + eTA (d i )α ( n + 1 − i )
i =1
n
(e + e RC )n(n + 1)
= − ne RC + TC
2
+ eTA ∑
i =1
( n + 1 − i ) ( d i )α
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
n
Minimizing Elinear −bit with constraint D = ∑ d i is equivalent to
i =1
minimizing the following expression,

∑ [( n + 1 − i ) (d ) ]
n  n 
L = eTA
i =1
i
α
−λ 
 ∑
 i =1
di − D 



where λ is a Langrage’s multiplier. Taking the partial derivatives of L

with respect to di and equating to 0 gives,

∂L
= eTAα (n + 1 − i )(d i ) α −1 − λ = 0
∂d i
1
 λ  α −1
d i =  
 eTAα (n + 1 − i ) 
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks n
The value of λ can be obtained using the condition ∑ d i = D
i =1
Thus for α=2 the values for di are,

D
di =
 n 
∑
 (1 i )  ( n + 1 − i )

 i =1



For n=10 the next figure shows an equally spaced sensor array and a
linear array where the distances are computed using the equation above
(α=2)
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
The farther away sensors consume most of their energy by transmitting
through longer distances whereas the closer to the sink sensors consume a
large portion of their energy by relaying packets from the upstream sensors
towards the sink. The total energy per bit spent by a linear array with
equally spaced sensors is

− bit =
equidistant
Elinear
n(n + 1)
2
(
eTC + e RC + eTA ( D n ) − neRC
2
)
The total energy per bit spent by a linear array with optimum separation
and α=2 is,

n(n + 1) D2
E optimum
linear − bit = ( eTC + eRC ) + eTA n
− neRC
2
∑ (1 i )
i =1
 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
For eTC= eTR= 50 nJ/bit, eTA= 100 pJ/bit/m , and α = 2, the total energy
2

consumption per bit for D= 1000 m, as a function of the number of sensors

is shown below.
Equally spaced Optimum spaced

0.12

0.10
Energy (m J)

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Sensor Array Size (n )

 Energy Consumption - Multihop
Networks
The energy per bit consumed at node i for the linear arrays discussed can be
computed using the following equation. It is assumed that each node relays packet
from the upstream nodes towards the sink node via the closest downstream neighbor.
For simplicity sake only one transmission is used, e.g. no ARQ type mechanism
α
Elinear (i ) = [(n + 1 − i )(eTC + eTA d i ) + (n − i )e RC ]

Energy consumption at each node (n=20, D=1000 m)

Equally Spaced Optimum Spaced

8.0
Total Energy=72.5 u J

6.0
Energy (u J)

4.0

2.0
Total Energy = 47.8 u J

0.0
0 5 10 15 20

Distance (hops) from the sink

 Error Control – Multihop WSN

For link i assume that the probability of bit error is pi. Assume a packet
length of m bits. For the analysis below assume that a Forward Error
Correction (FEC) mechanism is being used. Let’s then call plink(i) the
probability of receiving a packet with uncorrectable errors. Conventional
use of FEC is that a packet is accepted and delivered to the next stage
which in this case is to forward it to the next node downstream. The
probability of the packet arriving to the sink node with no errors is then:
n
Pc = ∏ (1 − plink (i ) )
i =1
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
Let’s assume the case where all the di’s are the same, i.e. di = D/n. Since
variable transmission power mode is also being assumed then the
probability of bit error for each link is fixed and Pc is,

Pc = (1 − plink ) n

The value of plink will depend on the received signal to noise ratio as well
as on the modulation method used. For noncoherent (envelope or square-
law) detector with binary orthogonal FSK signals in a Rayleigh slow
fading channel the probability of bit error is

1
p FSK =
2+γb

Where γ b is the average signal-to-noise ratio.

 Error Control – Multihop WSN
Consider a linear code (m, k, d) is being used. For FSK-modulation with
non-coherent detection and assuming ideal interleaving the probability of
a code word being in error is bounded by
M
 2 wi − 1
∑ 
i =2 
w i


PM <
(2 + γ )
b
d min

where wi is the weight of the ith code word and M=2k. A simpler bound is:

PM < ( M − 1)[4 p FSK (1 − p FSK )]dmin

For the multihop scenario being discussed here plink = PM and the
probability of packet error can be written as:
Pe = 1 − Pc = 1 − (1 − plink ) n = 1 − (1 − PM ) n

< 1 − {1 − (2 k − 1)[4 p FSK (1 − p FSK )]d min }n

 Error Control – Multihop WSN
The probability of successful transmission of a single code word is,
Psuccess = (1 − Pe )

Radio parameters used to obtain the results shown in the next slides

Parameter Value
NFRx 10dB
N0 -173.8 dBm/Hz or 4.17 * 10-21 J
Rbit 115.2 Kbits
λ 0.3 m
Gant -10dB or 0.1
ηamp 0.2
α 3
BW For FSK-modulation, it is assumed to be the same as Rbit
eRC 50nJ/bit
eTC 50nJ/bit
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
The expected energy consumption per information bit is defined as:
i − bit Elinear
Elinear =
k Psuccess

Parameters for the studied codes are shown in Table below, t is the
error correction capability.

Code m k dmin Code rate t

Hamming 7 4 3 0.57 1
Golay 23 12 7 0.52 3
Shortened
6 3 3 0.5 1
Hamming
Extended
24 12 8 0.5 3
Golay
Error Control – Multihop WSN
Characteristic distance, dchar, as a function of bit error probability
for non-coherent FSK modulation
Characteristic distance
38

37

36

35

34
Meters

33

32

31

30

29
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Bit error probability
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
­5
x 10 Energy consumtion with number of hops =10
4
(6,3,3)
(7,4,3) code
3.8 (23,12,7) code
(24,12,8) code

3.6
D = 1000 m
Energy consumption per useful bit

3.4

3.2

2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2

2
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Bit error probability of the channel with FSK­mod.
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
­5
x 10 Energy consumtion with number of hops =30
1.5
(6,3,3)
(7,4,3) code
(23,12,7) code
1.4 (24,12,8) code

D = 1000 m
1.3
Energy consumption per useful bit

1.2

1.1

0.9

0.8

0.7
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Bit error probability of the channel with FSK­mod.
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
x 10
­5
Energy consumtion with number of hops =60
5
(6,3,3)
(7,4,3) code
(23,12,7) code
4.5
(24,12,8) code

D = 1000 m
4
Energy consumption per useful bit

3.5

2.5

1.5

1
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03

Bit error probability of the channel with FSK­mod.
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
­5
x 10 Energy consumption of the (7,4,3) code
5
10 Hops
30 Hops
4.5 50 Hops
60 Hops

4 D = 1000 m
Energy consumption per useful bit

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Bit error probability of the channel with non­coherent FSK­mod.
 Error Control – Multihop WSN
­5
x 10 Energy consumption of the (24,12,8) code
4
10 Hops
30 Hops
50 Hops
3.5 60 Hops

D = 1000 m
Energy consumption per useful bit

2.5

1.5

0.5
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Bit error probability of the channel with non­coherent FSK­mod.