A Compressed Data Collection System For Use In Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

One of the most common goals of a wireless sensor network is to collect sensor data. The goal of this thesis is to provide an easy to use and energy-e fficient system for deploying data collection sensor networks. There are numerous challenges associated with deploying a wireless sensor network for collection of sensor data; among these challenges are reducing energy consumption and the fact that users interested in collecting data may not be familiar with software design. This thesis presents a complete system, comprised of the Compression Data-stream Protocol and a general gateway for data collection in wireless sensor networks, which attempts to provide an easy to use, energy efficient and complete system for data collection in sensor networks. The Compressed Data-stream Protocol is a transport layer compression protocol with a primary goal, in this work, to reduce energy consumption. Energy consumption of the radio in wireless sensor network nodes is expensive and the Com-pressed Data-stream Protocol has been shown in simulations to reduce energy used on transmission and reception by around 26%. The general gateway has been designed in such a way as to make customization simple without requiring vast knowledge of sensor networks and software development. This, along with the modular nature of the Compressed Data-stream Protocol, enables the creation of an easy to deploy and easy to configure sensor network for data collection. Findings show that individual components work well and that the system as a whole performs without errors. This system, the components of which will eventually be released as open source, provides a platform for researchers purely interested in the data gathered to deploy a sensor network without being restricted to specific vendors of hardware.