Design, analysis, and theoretical bounds in acoustic and RF sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have many important applications such as monitoring and tracking. Unlike traditional networks, a WSN has its own constraints, such as a limited amount of energy, short communication range, low bandwidth, and limited processing and storage in each sensor node. As a result, it is necessary to introduce new design concepts, create or improve existing protocols, and develop new algorithms in WSNs. This dissertation addresses several important issues in wireless sensor network design and performance analysis. We first investigate the fundamental performance limits of medium access control (MAC) protocols for particular multi-hop, RF-based wireless sensor networks and underwater sensor networks. A key aspect of this study is the modeling of a fair-access criterion that requires sensors to have an equal rate of frame delivery to the base station. Next, we analyze the performance of network service in outdoor environment, such as coverage and network lifework. Due to the characteristics of random deployment in outdoor environment, a distribution-free method is proposed to evaluate these metrics. Finally, we consider the design of a WSN for indoor environment. In this design, reference structure is incorporated into sensor node to enhance sensor awareness.