SmartConnect: A System for the Design and Deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks

TL;DR

SmartConnect is a system that facilitates the design and deployment of cost-effective multihop wireless sensor networks by combining model-based design, field testing, and iterative relay augmentation to meet QoS requirements.

Contribution

It introduces an iterative, field-interactive approach for designing wireless relay networks using approximate optimization algorithms, with experimental validation and robustness analysis.

Findings

Successful deployment of wireless relay networks in real environments.

Network robustness over time with minimal relay augmentation.

Effective use of approximate algorithms for network design.

Abstract

We have developed SmartConnect, a tool that addresses the growing need for the design and deployment of multihop wireless relay networks for connecting sensors to a control center. Given the locations of the sensors, the traffic that each sensor generates, the quality of service (QoS) requirements, and the potential locations at which relays can be placed, SmartConnect helps design and deploy a low- cost wireless multihop relay network. SmartConnect adopts a field interactive, iterative approach, with model based network design, field evaluation and relay augmentation per- formed iteratively until the desired QoS is met. The design process is based on approximate combinatorial optimization algorithms. In the paper, we provide the design choices made in SmartConnect and describe the experimental work that led to these choices. We provide results from some experimental deployments. Finally, we conduct an experimental study of the robustness of the network design over long time periods (as channel conditions slowly change), in terms of the relay augmentation and route adaptation required.