WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS
First Claim
1. A method of locating a sink in a wireless sensor network, the wireless sensor network comprising sensors and an array of potential sinks one of which is active as the current sink in the network, the method comprising:
- selecting two or more of said potential sinks as candidate sinks;
finding the suitability of each candidate sink to act as the sink using a calculation producing a result indicating the suitability of the candidate sink for communication with a plurality of the sensors;
comparing the result for each candidate sink to determine the most suitable candidate sink; and
transferring the role of the current sink to the most suitable candidate sink thus found.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless sensor network having mobile sensors (64, 65) is provided with a fixed grid of potential sinks, one of which (70) is currently active as the network sink. To re-position the sink, the current sink (70) finds candidate sinks (72-79) among the nearby potential sinks and requests from them a measure of their suitability to act as the future sink. To do this, the candidate sinks (72-79) obtain data and/or signals from the sensors (64, 65) within their range to estimate a total throughput which they would expect to achieve if acting as the sink. In one embodiment the desired data rates of the sensors (64, 65) are also taken into account. The current sink (70) then transfers the role of active sink to the most suitable candidate (e.g. 76) thus found.
45 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of locating a sink in a wireless sensor network, the wireless sensor network comprising sensors and an array of potential sinks one of which is active as the current sink in the network, the method comprising:
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selecting two or more of said potential sinks as candidate sinks; finding the suitability of each candidate sink to act as the sink using a calculation producing a result indicating the suitability of the candidate sink for communication with a plurality of the sensors; comparing the result for each candidate sink to determine the most suitable candidate sink; and transferring the role of the current sink to the most suitable candidate sink thus found. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A wireless sensor network comprising sensors and an array of potential sinks, one of which is active as the current sink in the network, wherein:
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each potential sink is arranged, when acting as the current sink, to select two or more other potential sinks as candidate sinks; each potential sink is responsive to such selection to find its suitability to act as the sink using a calculation producing a result indicating its suitability for communication with a plurality of the sensors; and the current sink is arranged to compare the result for each candidate sink to determine the most suitable candidate sink and to transfer the role of the current sink to the most suitable candidate sink thus found.
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13. A sensor for use in a wireless sensor network comprising:
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a wireless transceiver; a sensor for sensing data; a memory for temporarily holding data; an energy source; and desired rate calculating means for finding, based on an energy capacity of the energy source and an amount of data in the memory, a desired transmission rate for the transceiver.
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14. A device for use as a potential sink in a wireless sensor network having sensors and provided with an array of potential sinks one of which acts as a current sink in the network, the device comprising:
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wireless transceiver means for receiving and transmitting data within a communication range; selecting means operable, when the potential sink is the current sink, to select as candidate sinks two or more other potential sinks within the communication range; calculating means operable to provide a measure of the potential sink'"'"'s suitability for communication with a plurality of the sensors, the transceiver means being arranged to transmit said measure to the current sink; and decision means operable, when the potential sink is the current sink, to determine the most suitable candidate sink based on said measure.
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Specification