Bio-inspired scheduling schemes for wireless ad hoc sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks, a special type of wireless ad hoc networks, consist of large numbers of wireless sensor nodes. The idea of a wireless sensor network is to achieve the same sensing quality as a remote sensing system by utilizing a large number of wireless sensor nodes to perform close-range sensing. Wireless sensor nodes are compact communication devices that can virtually fit in anywhere. They are battery-powered devices that can greatly reduce deployment overheads due to wirings. To ensure a terrain of interest is fully covered, usually more than enough wireless sensor nodes are deployed to provide redundant sensing coverage. With a proper onoff scheduling scheme, the total energy consumption of a network can be reduced without introducing significant impacts to its target detection capabilities. In this chapter, two bio-inspired scheduling schemes are revisited. In both schemes, wireless sensor nodes can decide to operate in different operation modes dynamically. The decisions are made based on local information. Performances of a network can be fine-tuned by adjusting the behaviours of the nodes in their mode decisions.