Wireless Sensor Networks - WSN

Module 1

By
Dr. Kalawati Patil
Asst. Prof. – E&TC
Thakur College of Engineering & Technology
 Topics - Weightage 10- 12 Marks
Introduction to WSN and MANET.

WPAN: Bluetooth, ZigBee, UWB .

WLAN: Architecture, PHY and MAC layer, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11n.

Sensing and Communication Range.

Energy and Clustering of sensors.

Application of sensor Network.

 Overview of Wireless Sensor Networks
• Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been widely considered as one of the most important
technologies for the 21st century.
• Enabled by recent advances in microelectronicmechanical systems (MEMS) and wireless
communication technologies, tiny, cheap, and smart sensors deployed in a physical area and
networked through wireless links and the Internet.
• WSNs provide unprecedented opportunities for a variety of civilian and military applications
like environmental monitoring, battle field surveillance, and industry process control.
• Distinguished from traditional wireless communication networks, for example, cellular
systems and ad hoc networks, WSNs have unique characteristics, for example, denser level of
node deployment, higher unreliability of sensor nodes, and severe energy, computation, and
storage constraints, which present many new challenges in the development and application
of WSNs.
 Wireless Sensor Networks - WSN

What do you observe in WSN? ....

• Sensor Fields which are network of sensor nodes
• SInk node, User
• Connecction with Internet
• Different operatios: Sensing, storage, mining, processing, analysis communicating.
 Basic Terminology
• Network: Group of interconnected devices to perform specific task.
• Wireless Network:Network which uses wreless data connection between network devices.
• Sensing: It is a technique used to gather information about a physical object or process,including the
occurrence of events.
• Sensors: An object performing such a sensing task is called a sensor.
• Wireless Sensor Networks: It is a wireless network of dispersed and dedicated sensors in an adhoc
manner used to monitor the system, physical or environmental conditions.
• Node:Any node that provides data/ Sense the data/ Nodes where information is generated
• Actuator: It is a mechanical device which utilizes the control and energy to provide the needed force to
control.
• Source Node:Nodes where information is required.
• Sink Node:Sinks collect the information from the source nodes. Base-stations acts as sink.
• Gateway: Devices used for protocol converter, command/data forwarder, security manager, and
synchroniser in WSN.
 WSN Characteristics
• Dense Node Deployment. Sensor nodes are usually densely deployed in a field of interest. The number of sensor nodes in a sensor network
can be several orders of magnitude higher than that in a MANET.
• Battery - Powered Sensor Nodes. Sensor nodes are usually powered by battery. In most situations, they are deployed in a harsh or hostile
environment, where it is very difficult or even impossible to change or recharge the batteries.
• Severe Energy, Computation, and Storage Constraints. Sensor nodes are highly limited in energy, computation, and storage capacities.
• Self - Configurable. Sensor nodes are usually randomly deployed without careful planning and engineering. Once deployed, sensor nodes
have to autonomously configure themselves into a communication network.
• Application Specific. Sensor networks are application specific. A network is usually designed and deployed for a specific application. The
design requirements of a network change with its application.
• Unreliable Sensor Nodes. Sensor nodes are usually deployed in harsh or hostile environments and operate without attendance. They are
prone to physical damages or failures.
• Frequent Topology Change. Network topology changes frequently due to node failure, damage, addition, energy depletion, or channel
fading.
• No Global Identification. Due to the large number of sensor nodes, it is usually not possible to build a global addressing scheme for a sensor
network because it would introduce a high overhead for the identification maintenance.
• Many - to - One Traffic Pattern. In most sensor network applications, the data sensed by sensor nodes flow from multiple source sensor
nodes to a particular sink, exhibiting a many - to - one traffic pattern.
• Data Redundancy. In most sensor network applications, sensor nodes are densely deployed in a region of interest and collaborate to
accomplish a common sensing task. Thus, the data sensed by multiple sensor nodes typically have a certain level of correlation or
redundancy.
 WSN Design Objectives
1. Small node size
2. Low cost node
3. Low power consumption
4. Self configuration
5. Scalability
6. Adaptibility
7. Reliability
8. Fault tolerance
9. Security
10. Channel Utilization
11. Quality of service
 Sensor Node Structure
A sensor node typically consists of four basic
components: a sensing unit, a processing unit, a
communication unit, and a power unit.
1. The sensing unit usually consists of one or more
sensors and analog - to - digital converters (ADCs). The
sensors observe the physical phenomenon and
generate analog signals based on the observed
phenomenon. The ADCs convert the analog signals
into digital signals, which are then fed to the
processing unit.
2. The processing unit usually consists of a
microcontroller or microprocessor with memory
which provides intelligent control to the sensor node.
3. The communication unit consists of a short - range
radio for performing data transmission and reception
In addition, a sensor node can also be equipped with some over a radio channel.
other units, depending on specific applications such as
4. The power unit consists of a battery for supplying
transciever, GPS, Mobilizer etc
power to drive all other components in the system
Sensor Node Structure
 Sensor Node Structure
• Processor:It is the brain of the sensor node. For most of the WSNs’ processors have low
power because node size and power consumption are more important than the actual
processing capacity. Recently, System-on_x0002_Chip (SoC) Processors or integrated
processors with radio transceiver become popular due to their miniaturized size and
simplicity in board design.
• Wireless Communication: This is the most power demanding component of WSNs. It
consumes more than half the overall power consumption of a sensor node. Most
investigation in WSNs has been focused on developing energy-efficient protocols and routing
strategies..
• Memory: Most of the WSN platforms are designed with an external flash memory or
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM).
 Sensor Node Structure
• Sensor Interface: Its job is to enable practical application to interface with sensor node, as
well as there are two types of sensor interface : analogue interface, and digital interface
• Power Supply: This is the main factor that determines the size and lifetime of the WSN
hardware. The battery or alternative power source is often the largest single component of
WSN nodes [33]. Among different battery technologies, Li-ion battery is the most common
choice for WSN hardware for its high power density.
• Operating System: Operating System (OS) is one of the key components for the development
of WSNs. Due to limited resources in WSN hardware, conventional embedded OS are not
suitable for WSN platforms. Considering the resource constraints of typical sensor nodes in a
WSN, a new approach is required for OS design in WSN.
 Important Aspects of WSN
There are some important aspects of WSN as follows:
• WSN Topologies:
The sensor nodes can be connected in different ways: BUS, Star, Tree, Mesh, Circular and
Grid.
• WSN data Propagation:
The propagation technique between the hopes of the network can be “Routing” or
“Flooding”.
• Sensor Network Architecture:
Distributed, Hierarchical and clustered.
 WSN Topologies
The sensor nodes can be connected in different ways: BUS, Star, Tree, Mesh, Circular and Grid.

Bus Topology
Ring Topology Star Topology

Grid Topology

Circular Topology StarTopology

 WSN Architectures

Single - hop network architecture. Flat network Single - hop clustering architecture.
architecture.

Multihop clustering architectures. Multitier clustering architectures.

 WSN Architectures
• To send data to the sink, each sensor node can use single - hop long - distance transmission, which leads to the
single - hop network architecture.
• However, long - distance transmission is costly in terms of energy consumption.
• In sensor networks, the energy consumed for communication is much higher than that for sensing and
computation.
• Furthermore, the energy consumed for transmission dominates the total energy consumed for communication
and the required transmission power grows exponentially with the increase of transmission distance.
• Therefore, it is desired to reduce the amount of traffic and transmission distance in order to increase energy
savings and prolong network lifetime.
• For this purpose, multihop short - distance communication is highly preferred.
• In most sensor networks, sensor nodes are densely deployed and neighbor nodes are close to each other, which
makes it feasible to use short - distance communication.
• In multihop communication, a sensor node transmits its sensed data toward the sink via one or more intermediate
nodes, which can reduce the energy consumption for communication.
• The architecture of a multihop network can be organized into two types: flat and hierarchical.
 WSNs Applications
• Military Applications: Wireless sensor networks can form an important part of military
control, command, communications, computing, intelligence, investigation, and targeting
systems. Some of military applications comprise monitoring enemy forces, tools and
ammunition monitoring, targeting, and chemical nuclear, biological attack detection.
• Environmental Application: Several environmental applications have been suggested for
wireless sensor networks. Some of these include environment monitoring, forest-fire, animal
tracking, detection, precision farming, and disaster relief applications.
• Health Applications: Many WSNs have been found in health applications. Possibly, hospital
patients could be fitted out with wireless sensor nodes that monitor the patients’ vital signs
and track their location. Patients could move about more freely while still being under
continuous supervision. Moreover, in case of an accident the sensor could alert the hospital
workers as to the patient’s location and condition. A doctor in close proximity also equipped
with a wireless sensor, could be automatically send off to respond to the emergency.
 WSNs Applications
• Structural and Seismic Monitoring: Structures like buildings, bridges, and roads, even
aircraft. At the present time the strength of such structures are examined primarily through
manual and visual inspections or rarely through expensive and time-consuming technologies,
such as X-rays and ultrasound. Unattended networked sensing techniques can program the
process, providing rich and timely information about early cracks or about other structural
damage.
• Industrial and Commercial Applications: For industrial manufacturing facilities, sensors and
actuators are used in process monitoring and control. For instance, in a multi-stage chemical
processing plant there may be sensors located at different points in the process in order to
observer and measure the temperature, chemical concentration, pressure, etc. The
information that gained from such real-time monitoring may be used in different process
controls, such as adjusting the amount of a particular element or changing the heat settings.
The advantage of creating wireless networks of sensors in such environments is that they can
significantly improve both the cost and the flexibility associated with maintaining, installing,
and upgrading wired systems
 Modes of Wireless Networks
The IEEE 802.11 standard defines two modes:
• Infrastructure Mode
• Ad-hoc Mode

• In infrastructure Mode:
The wireless network consist of at least on access Point(AP) connected to the wired
network infrastructure and set of wireless end stations(STA).
• Adhoc Mode:
(Also called Peer-to-Peer mode or an independent Basic Service Set, or IBSS)
-It is a set of 802.11 wireless stations that communicate directly with one another without
using an access point or any connection to wired network.
Comparison: infrastructure vs. ad-hoc
networks
802.11 - Architecture of an infrastructure network
802.11 - Architecture of an ad-hoc network
Modes of Wireless Sensor Networks
Types of Wireless Sensor Network

Infrastructure Free
Infrastructure Based
wireless Sensor Network
Wireless Sensor Network
(Ad-hoc Network)
 Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET)
• It is an infrastructure less IP based network of mobile and
wireless machine nodes connected with radio.
• In operation, the nodes of MANET do not have centralized
administration mechanism.
• Simply stating, a MANET is one that comes together as
needed, not necessarily with any support from the existing
Internet infrastructure or any other kind of fixed stations.
• In a MANET the network topology may dynamically change
in an unpredictable manner since nodes are free to move.
• Wireless Network • As for the mode of operation, MANETs are basically
• No fixed Infrastructure peer-to-peer multi-hop mobile wireless networks where
• Dynamic Topologies information packets are transmitted in a store-and forward
• Node in MANET can act as host or Router manner from a source to an arbitrary destination, via
• MANET is a autonomous collection of Mobile intermediate nodes.
users that communicate over wireless links.
 Challenges in MANET
• Routing
• Power Consumption
• Autonomous
• Dynamic Topology
• Limited Resources
• Topology
• Bandwidth
• Energy
 Applications of MANET
Military Field (Battle Field in unknown Territory)
• The technology was initially
developed keeping in mind the
military applications, such as
battlefield in an unknown territory
where an infrastructured network
is almost impossible to have or
maintain.
• In such situations, the ad hoc
networks having self-organizing
capability can be effectively used
where other technologies either fail
or cannot be deployed effectively.
 Applications of MANET
Crisis management Applications

• These arise, for example, as a

result of natural disasters where
the entire communications
infrastructure is in disarray.
• Restoring communications quickly
is essential.
• By using ad hoc networks, an
infrastructure could be set up in
hours instead of days/weeks
required for wire-line
communications.
 Applications of MANET
VANET ( Vehicular Ad-hoc Network)
 Applications of MANET
• Search-and-rescue
• Mini site operations
• Robot data acquisition
• Sensor networks
• Student on campus
• Cellular network and wireless Hot Spot extension
• Personal area networking using PDAs, laptops and hand phones, etc.
CRITICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WSNS and
MANETS
Protocol Stack for WSNs
The protocol stack for WSNs consists of five protocol layers: the physical
layer, data link layer, network layer, transport layer, and application
layer.
1. The application layer contains a variety of application - layer
protocols to generate various sensor network applications.
2. The transport layer is responsible for reliable data delivery required
by the application layer.
3. The network layer is responsible for routing the data from the
transport layer.
4. The data link layer is primarily responsible for data stream
multiplexing, data frame transmission and reception, medium
access, and error control.
5. The physical layer is responsible for signal transmission and
reception over a physical communication medium, including
frequency generation, signal modulation, transmission and
reception, data encryption, and so on.
 Physical layer issues in WSN
• It describes major PHY layer technologies used for wireless communication.
• RF communication is the most frequently used in WSNs.
• The expected feature should be relatively long range, high data rate communications with
acceptable error rates at a low energy expenditure that does not require line of sight
between sender and receiver.
• The IEEE 802.15.4 standard and Zigbee wireless technology are designed to satisfy the
market’s need for a low-cost, standard-based and flexible wireless network technology,
which offers low power consumption, reliability, interoperability and security for control and
monitoring applications with low to moderate data rates.
• The IEEE 802.15.4 PHY layer standard and the platforms used in WSNs.
• The main types of technologies used for RF communication in WSNs can be classified into
three as narrow-band, spread-spectrum, and ultra-wide-band (UWB) techniques.
• In addition to RF communication techniques, several other solutions have also been used in
WSNs. These techniques are optical, acoustic, and magnetic induction communication.
 Communication in a WSN
W-LAN
Different Wireless Networks
WSN
W-PAN
Wireless Network

W-WAN W-MAN W-LAN W-PAN

Wireless Wide Wireless Wireless Local Area Wireless Personal Area

Area Network Metropolitan Area Network Network- a radius of app. 30
Network cm
World Wide IEEE-802.11 W-Fi
Coverage A radius up to Bluetooth, ZigBEE
40-50 KM IEEE Coverage upto 1.5KM IEEE 802.15.1
Ex: GSM, 3G, 4G, IEEE 802.15.4
Satellite Ex: 802.16 WiMAX
Communication Simpler and less expensive
 WLAN : Characteristics
Advantages
• very flexible within reception area
• Ad-hoc networks do not need planning
• (almost) no wiring difficulties (e.g. historic buildings, firewalls)
• more robust against disasters like, e.g., earthquakes, fire
Disadvantages
• low bandwidth compared to wired networks (1-10 Mbit/s)
• many proprietary solutions, especially for higher bit-rates, standards take their
time (e.g. IEEE 802.11)
• many national restrictions for wireless, long time to establish global solutions
like, e.g., IMT-2000
 Design goals for wireless LANs
• global, seamless operation
• low power for battery use
• no special permissions or licenses needed to use the LAN
• robust transmission technology
• simplified spontaneous cooperation at meetings
• easy to use for everyone, simple management
• protection of investment in wired networks
• security (no one should be able to read my data), privacy (no one should be able
to collect user profiles), safety (low radiation)
• transparency concerning applications and higher layer protocols, but also
location awareness if necessary
IEEE standard 802.11
802.11 - Layers and functions
802.11 - Physical layer (classical)
WLAN: IEEE 802.11a
WLAN: IEEE 802.11b
WLAN: IEEE 802.11 – future developments
 WPAN
• Actually WPAN is PAN (Personal Area Network) where the interconnected devices are
centered around a person’s workspace and connected through wireless medium.
• That’s why it is also called as Person’s centered short range wireless connectivity. Typically
the range is within about 10 meters means very short range.
• Plugging in is one of the key concept in WPAN as within a close proximity WPAN-equipped
devices communicate with each other as like they are connected through cable.
• Unlike WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) where there is a requirement of infrastructure
setup, in WPAN connection involves little or no infrastructure.
• In general, if we will see this WPAN provides power efficient and inexpensive solutions to be
implemented for a wide range of devices within a short range distance.
• As per IEEE, WPAN is classified into 3 classes i.e
• High-rate WPAN (HR-WPAN) : It is defined in the IEEE 802.15.3 standard. Data throughput is > 20 Mbps.
• Medium-rate WPAN (MR-WPAN) : It is defined in the IEEE 802.15.1 standard. Data throughput is 1 Mbp.
• Low-rate WPAN (LR-WPAN) : It is defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Data throughput is < 0.25 Mbps.
 Communication in a WSN
• The well-known IEEE 802.11 family of standards uses different frequency bands, for example, the
2.4-GHz band is used by IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g, while the IEEE 802.11a protocol uses the
5-GHz frequency band.
• IEEE 802.11 was frequently used in early WSNs and can still be found in current networks when
bandwidth demands are high (e.g., for multimedia sensors).
• However, the high-energy overheads of IEEE 802.11-based networks makes this standard unsuitable
for low-power sensor networks.
• Typical data rate requirements in sensor networks are comparable to the bandwidths provided by
dial-up modems, therefore the data rates provided by IEEE 802.11 are typically much higher than
needed.
• This has led to the development of a variety of protocols that better satisfy the networks’ need for
low power consumption and low data rates.
• IEEE 802.15.4 protocol has been designed specifically for short range communications in low-power
sensor networks and is supported by most academic and commercial sensor nodes.
 The IEEE 802.15.4 Standard
• The IEEE 802.15.4 is a standard developed by IEEE 802.15 Task Group 4, which specifies the
physical and MAC layers for low - rate WPANs.
• The goal of Task Group 4 was to “ provide a standard for ultralow complexity, ultralow cost,
ultralow power consumption, and low - data rate wireless connectivity among inexpensive
devices ” .
• The physical layer of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard has been specified to coexist with other IEEE
standards for wireless networks, for example, IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) and IEEE 802.15.1
(Bluetooth).
• It features activation and deactivation of the radio transceiver and transmission of packets on
the physical medium.
• It operates in one of the following three license - free bands:
1. 868 – 868.6 MHz (e.g., Europe) with a data rate of 20 kbps.
2. 902 – 928 MHz (e.g., North America) with a data rate of 40 kbps.
3. 2400 – 2483.5 MHz (worldwide) with a data rate of 250 kbps.
 The IEEE 802.15.4 Standard Features
• Data rates of 250 kbps, 40 kbps, and 20 kbps.
• Two addressing modes: 16 - bit short and 64 - bit IEEE addressing.
• The CSMA - CA channel access.
• It works up to a range of 75m and it supports up to 254 nodes.
• Fully handshaking protocol for transfer reliability.
• Power management to ensure low - power consumption.
• Some 16 channels in the 2.4 - GHz ISM band, 10 channels in the 915 - MHz band, and 1
channel in the 868 - MHz band.
• This protocol is designed specially for networks whose data rate is less, which have energy
constraints, and which require good QoS.
• The network using this protocol can survive from 6 months to 2 years with two AA batteries.
 Bluetooth Overview
• Wireless technology for short-range voice and data communication
• Low-cost and low-power
• Provides a communication platform between a wide range of “smart” devices
• Not limited to “line of sight” communication
• Bluetooth is an industry standard for wireless data transmission between devices over short
distances.
• It was first defined in the 1990s by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), in IEEE
802.15.1.
• Both connectionless and connection oriented data transmission is possible, to one or more
device, in an Ad-hoc or piconet.
 Bluetooth Radio
• Uses 2.4 GHz ISM band spread spectrum radio (2400 – 2483.5 MHz)
• The freqencies used are in the license-free ISM band, between 2.402 GHz and 2.480 GHz, and
can therefore be used without a permit worldwide. Interferences with Wifi networks,
wireless telephones or microwaves, all working in the same ISM band, are possible.
Advantages
• Free
• Open to everyone worldwide
Disadvantages
• Can be noisy (microwaves, cordless phones, garage door openers)
Bluetooth Spectrum Band
 Bluetooth Architecture
• It is a technology for the Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) and is used to transmit
data within smaller distances.
• It was first brought up by Ericson in 1994.
• It functions at 2.4 to 2.485 GHz in the unlicensed,commercial, science and medical (ISM)
band.
• The number of devices which can be easily connected to it simultaneously is 7 (maximum).
• Bluetooth is up to 10 metres long.
• Depending upon the version, it offers data rates of up to 1 Mbps or 3Mbps. FHSS (Frequency
hopping spring) is the spreading process it utilizes.
• There are two types of networks in the architecture of Bluetooth: piconet and scatter net
Bluetooth Spetcrum
Key Operational Parameters of Bluetooth
 Definitions of the terms used in Bluetooth
• Piconet. A collection of devices connected via Bluetooth technology in an ad hoc fashion. A piconet
starts with two connected devices, such as a PC and cellular phone, and may grow to eight
connected devices. All Bluetooth devices are peer units and have identical implementations.
However, when establishing a piconet, one unit will act as a master for synchronization
pur_x0002_poses, and the other(s) as slave(s) for the duration of the piconet connection.
• Scatternet. Two or more independent and nonsynchronized piconets that communicate with each
other. A slave as well as a master unit in one piconet can establish this connection by becoming a
slave in the other piconet.
• Master unit. The device in the piconet whose clock and hopping sequence are used to synchronize
all other devices in the piconet.
• Slave units. All devices in a piconet that are not the master (up to seven active units for each
master).
• MAC address. A 3-bit medium access control address used to distinguish between units
participating in the piconet.
• Parked units. Devices in a piconet which are time-synchronized but do not have MAC addresses.
 Piconets
• Piconets are small Bluetooth networks, formed by at most 8 stations, one of which is the
master node and the rest slave nodes (maximum of 7 slaves).
• Master node is the primary station that manages the small network. The slave stations are
secondary stations that are synchronized with the primary station.
• Communication can take place between a master node and a slave node in either one-to-one
or one-to-many manner.
• However, no direct communication takes place between slaves. Each station, whether master
or slave, is associated with a 48-bit fixed device address.
• Besides the seven active slaves, there can be up to 255 numbers of parked nodes. These are
in a low power state for energy conservation.
• The only work that they can do is respond to a beacon frame for activation from the master
node.
Piconets
 Scatternet
A scatternet is an interconnected collection of two or more piconets. They are formed when a
node in a piconet, whether a master or a slave, acts as a slave in another piconet. This node is
called the bridge between the two piconets, which connects the individual piconets to form the
scatternet.
Bluetooth Protocol Stack

• The Bluetooth protocol stack allows

devices to locate, connect, and
exchange data with each other and to
execute interoperable, interactive
applications against each other.
• The Bluetooth protocol stack can be
placed into three groups:
• transport protocol group,
• middleware protocol group, and
• application group
 Bluetooth Protocol Stack
• Radio (RF) layer: It performs modulation/demodulation of the data into RF signals. It defines the physical characteristics of
Bluetooth transceivers. It defines two types of physical links: connection-less and connection-oriented.
• Baseband Link layer: The baseband is the digital engine of a Bluetooth system and is equivalent to the MAC sublayer in
LANs. It performs the connection establishment within a piconet.
• Link Manager protocol layer: It performs the management of the already established links which includes authentication
and encryption processes. It is responsible for creating the links, monitoring their health, and terminating them gracefully
upon command or failure.
• Logical Link Control and Adaption Protocol layer: It allows the communication between upper and lower layers of the
Bluetooth protocol stack. It packages the data packets and also performs segmentation and multiplexing.
• SDP layer: It is short for Service Discovery Protocol. It allows discovering the services available on another
Bluetooth-enabled device.
• RF comm layer: It is Radio Frontend Component. It provides a serial interface with WAP and OBEX. It also provides
emulation of serial ports over the logical link control and adaption protocol(L2CAP).
• OBEX: It is short for Object Exchange. It is a communication protocol to exchange objects between 2 devices.
• WAP: It is short for Wireless Access Protocol. It is used for internet access.
• TCS: It is short for Telephony Control Protocol. It provides telephony service. The basic function of this layer is call control
(setup & release) and group management for gateway serving multiple devices.
• Application layer: It enables the user to interact with the application.
 Advantages of Using Bluetooth
• Low cost.
• Easy to use.
• It can also penetrate through walls.
• It creates an Adhoc connection immediately without any wires.
• It is used for voice and data transfer.
 Disadvantages of Using Bluetooth
• Speed −Data transfer is relatively sluggish in all wireless methods. In the case of Bluetooth,
this is especially true. The transmission rate of Bluetooth 3.0 and Bluetooth 4.0 is 25 Mbps in
general.
• Range −A Bluetooth connection has a maximum range of 100 meters. Bluetooth has a limited
range of communication (typically lower than a WiFi connection).
• Safety and security −Even though Bluetooth has several security features, its security level is
significantly lower because it utilizes radio frequencies. Bluetooth allows hackers to obtain
your personal information quickly.
• Reliability −Even though the majority of Bluetooth implementations follow the standard,
there are still worries about Bluetooth compatibility. This is due to a variety of factors,
including profiles, drivers, and versions.
 Bluetooth Applications
The following are some of the areas where Bluetooth can be used:
• Replacing serial cables with radio links
• Wearable networks/WPANs
• Desktop/room wireless networking
• Hot-spot wireless networking
• Medical: Transfer of measured values from training units to analytical
• systems, patient monitoring
• Automotive: Remote control of audio/video equipment, hands-free telephony
• Point-of-sale payments: Payments by mobile phone
 The ZigBee Standard..... Why?
• Bluetooth protocol is not much encouraged for long duration applications due to power
consumption limitations.
• Hence, for small gadgets which run on battery or limited power source, a new wireless data
transfer protocol was needed which could manage working with low power consumption.
• To fulfill these requirements, a protocol named Zigbee was announced just at the time when
Bluetooth was getting popular i.e. in 1999.
• However, Zigbee caught attention for commercial applications around 2005.
• Interestingly, these ISM band using protocols, Bluetooth and Zigbee, though defined in the
same IEEE specification of 802.15, are very dissimilar at various grounds.

Zigbee includes a suite of IEEE 802.15.4-based specifications for communication

protocols enabling mesh low-power, wireless personal area networks (WPANs) with
multi-topology for point-to-point and multi-point-to-point inter-device
communication.
 The ZigBee Standard
• The IEEE 802.15.4 standard only defines the physical and MAC layers without specifying the
higher protocol layers, including the network and application layers.
• The ZigBee standard is developed on top of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and defines the
network and application layers.
• The network layer provides networking functionalities for different network topologies, and
the application layer provides a framework for distributed application development and
communication.
• The two protocol stacks can be combined together to support short - range low data rate
wireless communication with battery - powered wireless devices.
• The potential applications of these standards include sensors, interactive toys, smart badges,
remote controls, and home automation.
• The ZigBee protocol stack was proposed at the end of 2004 by the ZigBee Alliance , an
association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost - effective, low - power,
wirelessly networked, monitoring, and control products based on an open global standard.
 The ZigBee Standard
• ZigBee is a wireless technology.
• Technological Standard Created for Control and Sensors Networks.
• Technological Standard of ZigBee Alliance- IEEE 802.15.4. Philips, Motorola, Intel, HP are all
members of the alliance.
• Designed for low power consumption allowing batteries to essentially last for ever.
• ZigBee makes possible completely networked homes where all devices are able to
communicate and be controlled by a single unit.
• It provides network, security and application support services operating on the top of IEEE.
 The ZigBee Standard
• Application domain: Personal Area Network (PAN).
• Short range operation, low cost sensors, low power consumption.
• Topology: Star or Peer-to-Peer.
• Access control: Beacon or CSMA/CA.
• Reliable data transfer.
• Data rates: 250 kb/s (2450 MHz band), 40 kb/s (915 MHz), 20 kb/s (868 MHz).
The ZigBee Standard

ZigBee Alliance
-”The software”
-Network, Security & Application layers
-Brand management

IEEE 802.15.4
-”the hardware”
-Physical & Media Access Control Layers
 What’s in a Zigbee Network?
• A ZigBee system consists of several components.
• The most basic is the device.
• A device can be a full-function device (FFD) or reduced-function device (RFD).
• A network includes at least one FFD, operating as the personal area network (PAN)
coordinator.
• The FFD can operate in three modes:
• A PAN coordinator, a coordinator, or a device.
• An RFD is intended for applications that are extremely simple and do not need to send large
amounts of data.
• An FFD can talk to reduced-function or full-function devices, while an RFD can only talk to an
FFD.
• IEEE 802.1.54 MAC supports mainly two topology based on these logical devices.
• Star topology
• Peer to Peer topology
 Star Network
In the star topology, the PAN coordinator chooses a unique (within its radio sphere of influence) PAN id. All
attached nodes can only talk to the central PAN coordinator.

• In the star topology, communication is established between

devices and a single central controller, called the PAN
coordinator.
• The PAN coordinator may be powered by mains while the devices
will most likely be battery powered.
• Applications that benefi t from this topology are home
automation, personal computer (PC) peripherals, toys, and
games.
• After an FFD is activated for the first time, it may establish its own
network and become the PAN coordinator.
• Each star network chooses a PAN identifier, which is not currently
used by any other network within the radio sphere of influence.
• This allows each star network to operate independently.
 Peer-to-Peer Network
Within a peer-to-peer topology, each FFD can communicate with any other device within its
range. A RFD may only communicate with a single FFD at a given time

• In the peer-to-peer topology, there is also one PAN

coordinator. In contrast to star topology, any device can
communicate with any other device as long as they are in range
of one another.
• A peer-to-peer network can be ad hoc, self-organizing, and
self-healing.
• Applications such as industrial control and monitoring, wireless
• sensor networks and asset and inventory tracking would
benefit from such a topology.
• It also allows multiple hops to route messages from any device
to any other device in the network. It can provide reliability by
multipath routing.
 Multi-Cluster Network
Larger networks may be established by forming multi-cluster topologies. Each cluster has a
single cluster head that is responsible for coordination within the cluster.
 Multi-Cluster Network
• The cluster-tree topology is a special case of a peer-to-peer network in which most devices are
full-function devices and an RFD may connect to a cluster-tree network as a leaf node at the end of a
branch.
• Any of the full-function devices can act as a coordinator and provide synchronization services to other
devices and coordinators.
• However, only one of these coordinators is the PAN coordinator. The PAN coordinator forms the first
cluster by establishing itself as the cluster head (CLH) with a cluster identifier (CID) of zero, choosing an
unused PAN identifier, and broadcasting beacon frames to neighboring devices.
• A candidate device receiving a beacon frame may request to join the network at the cluster head. If the
PAN coordinator permits the device to join, it will add this new device to its neighbor list.
• The newly joined device will add the cluster head as its par_x0002_ent in its neighbor list and begin
transmitting periodic beacons such that other candidate devices may then join the network at that
device.
• Once application or network requirements are met, the PAN coordinator may instruct a device to
become the cluster head of a new cluster adjacent to the fi rst one.
• The advantage of the clustered structure is the increased coverage at the cost of increased message
latency.
 The IEEE 802.15.4-2003/ZigBee Protocol Stack
• The IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard describes the physical and MAC layer.
• ZigBee builds on the IEEE standard and defines the network and application layer.
 Physical (PHY) Layer
The physical layer is responsible for:
• Activation/Deactivation of transceiver.
• Channel selection, assessment.
• Transmission and reception of packets.
• Frequency bands: 2.4 GHz (worldwide), 868 MHz (EU), 916
• MHz (US)
 Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer
The following services are provided by the MAC layer:
• Beacon management
• Channel access
• Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS) management
• Frame validation
• Acknowledgment
• Association, disassociation
 Network (NWK) Layer
• The lower level of the ZigBee protocol builds on the MAC layer of IEEE 802.15.4.
• Topology specific routing
• Security
• New device configuration
• Network startup
• Joining/leaving a network
• Addressing
• Neighbour discovery
• Route discovery
• Reception control
 Application Layer
The application layer provides the following services:
• Maintain tables for binding
• Fragmentation, reassembly and reliable data transport
• Provide communication endpoints for the application
• Discovering devices and application services.
• Initiating/responding to binding requests between endpoints
 Media Access (CSMA/CA)
The IEEE 802.15.4 standard describes the CSMA/CA mechanism to access the wireless channel:
• A device that wishes to transmit data frames waits for a random backoff.
• If the channel is clear after the backoff, the data is transmitted.
• If the channel is busy, the device waits for another random period.
• (Optional) Acknowledgment frames are sent immediately after the corresponding data
frames without using the CSMA/CA mechanism.
 Comparison between Bluetooth and ZigBee
• IEEE Standards: Bluetooth, though not under IEEE now, was defined under 802.15.1 standard while Zigbee is defined under
IEEE 802.15.4 standard.
• Management Alliances: Zigbee is managed by Zigbee Alliance which tests and certifies Zigbee based devices. All Zigbee
based protocols get standardized under IEEE. On the other hands, Bluetooth is managed for standards and device by a
single body: Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group).
• Frequency: Bluetooth works under 2.4 GHz while Wi-Fi works at 868 MHz, 915 MHz and 2.4 MHz frequencies.
• Channel Bandwidth: Bluetooth based channel consume bandwidths upto 1MHz while Zigbee based networks consume
bandwidths of 0.3MHz, 0.6 MHz and 2 MHz depending upon the frequency at which networks are communicating.
• Type of Computer Network: Zigbee has been designed to communicate under Personal Area Network whereas Bluetooth
based communication serves for Wide PAN (WPAN).
• Maximum number of cell nodes: In Bluetooth, upto 8 cell nodes can be connected to each other while in Zigbee more than
65,000 cell nodes can be connected together.
• Range: Bluetooth based networks can exist upto 10m, while Wi-Fi based networks can exist from 10-100meters.
• Network Topologies: Bluetooth network can be established in piconet networks and scatternet. On the other hand, Zigbee
devices can be networked in star, mesh and other generic topologies. Various Zigbee based network topologies can be
connected to each other in form of a cluster.
 Comparison between Bluetooth and ZigBee
• DataTransfer Rates: Bluetooth based networks have maximum data transfer rates of upto 1Mbps while in Zigbee,
data transfer rates are upto 250Kbps.
• Spread Spectrum Techniques: Bluetooth works on Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum technique while Zigbee
uses Direct Spread Spectrum technique.
• Energy Consumption: For any network, power consumption depends on the type of data being exchanged,
distance between transmitter and receiver, desired power to be retained by signal and other factors.
• Bluetooth is a protocol known for exchanging almost all types of data such as text, multimedia. On the contrast,
Zigbee protocol is precisely for operational instructions and not much variety of data is known to be exchanged
using it. Obviously, Zigbee consumes significantly less power than its Bluetooth counterpart. Usually, Zigbee
devices are 2.5-3 times more efficient than those working at Bluetooth.
• Applications: Zigbee based systems are designed for wireless networking among sensors and is more preferred for
devices which are smaller in size and consume less energy. TV remote controls, SCADA system sensor, medical
instruments etc. are some areas where Zigbee based networking are done.
• Bluetooth based applications are primarily in computer peripherals such as wireless keyboards, mouse, headsets
etc. Also, some wireless remotes or gesture controlled gadgets use Bluetooth to exchange data.
Comparison between Bluetooth and ZigBee
 Numerical 1
What is the hopping rate of Bluetooth, and how many bits are transmitted in one slot? If each
frame of the HV3 voice packet in Bluetooth carries 80 bits of sample speech, what is the effi
ciency of the packet transmission? How often do HV3 packets have to be sent to support 64
kbps voice in each direction?
Solution:
Hopping rate = 1600 hops per second, 240 bits in one slot packet

Let x be the number of times a packet is sent

 MCQs
• The IEEE 802.11 a wireless standard frequency range is around ________
• 1 GHz
• 2 GHz
• 5 GHz
• None of the above
• What is the maximum data rate of IEEE 802.11 b?
• 10Mbps
• 20Mbps
• 11Mbps
• None of the above
• Bluetooth is the wireless technology for __________
a) local area network
b) personal area network
c) metropolitan area network
d) wide area network
 MCQs
The spectrum used by Bluetooth starts from _______ and ends at ________
• 2402 MHz, 2.483.5 MHZ
• 2302 MHz, 2.483 MHZ
• 2300 MHz, 2.400 MHZ
• None of the above
The Bluetooth devices uses _________ techniques
• Spread spectrum technique
• Frequency hopping technique
• Direct Sequence spread spectrum
• None of the above
How many channels do Bluetooth consists?
• 79 channels
• 89 channels
• 99 channels
• None of the above
 MCQs
The architecture of Bluetooth is called ______
• Scatternet
• Piconet
• Master and slave
• None of the above
What is the advantage of using Bluetooth technology?
• Wireless technology, cheap technology
• Very simple to form a piconet
• Robust, low energy consumption
• All of the above
The data speed of Bluetooth is around ______
• 1 Mbps
• 2 Mbps
• 4 Mbps
• None of the above
 IEEE 802.15.3a — Ultra WideBand
• For wireless PANs, which only transmit over small distances in which signal propagation loss
is small and less variable, greater capacity can be achieved through greater bandwidth.
• The growing demand for higher quality multimedia services and faster content delivery is
driving the quest for higher data rates in communication networks.
• The IEEE 802.15.3a (high rate (HR) WPAN) defined a very high data rate alternative physical
layer for IEEE 802.15.3 — the current high data rate WPAN standard — to deliver data rates
from 20 to 55 Mbps over short ranges (less than 10 m).
• The use of ultra wideband (UWB) under FCC guidelines offers tremendous capacity potential
over short ranges (<10 m) at low radiated power.
• The FCC defines UWB signals as having a fractional bandwidth (the ratio of baseband
bandwidth to RF carrier frequency) of greater than 0.2, or a UWB bandwidth greater than
500 MHz.
 History of UWB technology
• The history of UWB technology dates back to the time of the first man-made radio when Marconi used spark-gap
(short electrical pulses) transmitters for wireless communication.
• In 1920, UWB signals were banned from commercial use. UWB technology was restricted to defense applications
under highly classified programs for secure communication. It was not until 1992 that UWB started receiving
noticeable attention in the scientific community.
• Developments in high-speed microprocessors and fast switching techniques have made UWB commercially viable
for short-range, low-cost communication. Early applications include radar systems, communication, consumer
electronics, wireless personal area networks, localization, and medical electronics. Since that time, detailed
knowledge of UWB electromagnetics, components, and system engineering have been developed.
• In 2002, the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) was the first organization worldwide to release UWB
regulations allowing the unlicensed use of the allocated spectrum. However, the allowable power limit was set
very low to avoid interference with other technologies that operate in this frequency band such as WiFi,
Bluetooth, etc.
• The low spectral density of UWB signals is attractive, making UWB less susceptible to in-band interference from
other narrowband signals and very secure as they are difficult to detect due to low power density.
 UltraWideBand Technology
• Ultra-wide band (UWB) radios take a drastically different approach from Bluetooth and
802.15.4.
• Where the latter two radios emit signals over long periods using a small part of the spectrum,
UWB takes the opposite approach: UWB uses short pulses (in the ps to ns range) over a large
bandwidth (often many GHz).
• According to Shannon's Law, the maximum data rate of a radio link can be increased much
more efficiently by increasing its bandwidth than by increasing its power; hence, UWB radios
offer very high data rates (hundreds of Mbps or even several Gbps) with relatively low power
consumption.
• The use of short pulses over a wide spectrum also means that the signal is below the average
power output defined as noise by the FCC (-41.3 dBm/MHz), and that UWB signals are not
susceptible to noise or jamming.
• UWB is a much simpler technology than Bluetooth and ZigBee, since there are currently no
mandatory or optional middleware layers that build on top of the basic PHY and MAC layers.
 UWB Radio
• Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a short-range wireless communication protocol—like Wi-Fi or
Bluetooth—uses radio waves of short pulses over a spectrum of frequencies ranging from 3.1
to 10.5 GHz in unlicensed applications.

• The term UWB is used for a bandwidth (BW) that is larger or equal to 500 MHz or a fractional
bandwidth (FBW) greater than 20% where FBW = BW/fc, where fc is the center frequency.
 Principles of UWB
• Time Domain: • Frequency Domain:
-Ultra wide spectrum
-Extremely short pulses
-Low power spectral density
-Very low duty cycle
UWB Spectrum
UWB Technology
Pulse Vs Continuous Wave
Benifits
UWB Standard
 UWB Transmission
• Two different approaches are adopted for data transmission:
• Ultra-short pulses in the picosecond range, which covers all frequencies simultaneously (also called impulse
radios)
• Subdividing the total UWB bandwidth into a set of broadband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) channels
• The first approach is cost-effective at the expense of degraded signal to noise ratio. In
general, impulse radio transmission does not require the use of a carrier, which means
reduced complexity compared to traditional narrowband transceivers (i.e., simpler
transceiver architecture) as the signal is directly radiated via the UWB antenna. Gaussian
monocycle or one of its derivatives is an example of a UWB pulse that's easy to generate.
• The second approach exploits the spectrum more efficiently and offers better performance
and data throughput at the expense of increased complexity (i.e., requires signal processing),
and power consumption.
• The choice between the two approaches depends on the applications.
 Advantages of UWB
Some of this bandwidth's features are highlighted below:
• The wide bandwidth provides immunity against the channel effect in a dense environment and
enables very fine time-space resolutions for highly accurate indoor positioning of the UWB nodes,
e.g., the new iPhone 11.
• The low spectral density, below environmental noise, ensures a low probability of signal detection
and increases the security of communication.
• High data rates can be transmitted over a short distance using UWB.500Mbps at 10 feet
• UWB systems can co-exist with already-deployed narrowband systems.
• Spectrum Reuse: 3.1-10.6 GHz, coexist with other users
• Multipath immunity: Path delay >> pulse width
• Low power: Baseband modulation (no carrier)
• Low cost: Almost “all digital”, simple analog module
 Applications of UWB
• Communications:
-High Speed WLANs,
-Mobile Ad-hoc wireless network.
-Handheld & n/w Radios.
-Intra-Home & Intra-office Communication.
-Military.
-Low enforcement & Commercial applications.
• Sensor Network:
-Ground penetrating Radar that detects & identifies targets hidden in tolioge
-Radars & short range motion sensing.
• Tracking/ positioning:
-Good for Emergency Services.
Comparison between Bluetooth and UWB
 Energy Efficient Clustering Approaches in WSNs
• WSN nodes can sense, process, and forward data to neighbouring nodes and base station
(BS). Moreover, these small devices have limited capabilities such as small memory, low
computation, low processing, and most importantly small power unit (usually equipped with
batteries).
• The sensor nodes are scattered over a large geographic area containing hundreds of nodes to
monitor a target region.
• As the sensed data has to be forwarded to BS for further necessary action, therefore routing
becomes important for transferring of data from node to node or BS efficiently.
• In WSN, to efficiently utilise the available resources especially battery, different hierarchical
techniques have been proposed.
• The goal is to obtain energy efficiency and maximize network lifetime.
• In hierarchical routing, clustering is the most widely used technique to achieve these goals.
• Clustering schemes by design eliminate the redundant messages in formation of efficient
clusters and intelligent selection/reselection of the CH.
 Hierarchical Approach
• In hierarchical approaches, nodes are clustered into groups, and, by some criteria, a cluster
head is selected that is responsible for routing.
• In hierarchical routing, usually two-layer approach is used, where one layer is used for
sensing the physical environment and the other is used for routing.
• The low energy nodes are used for sensing while high energy nodes are often used for
collecting, aggregating, and forwarding data.
• Clustering approach is the most widely used technique for energy efficiency to achieve
scalability and effective communication.
• Cluster-based hierarchical approaches have some advantages such as increasing scalability;
efficient data aggregation and channel bandwidth are efficiently utilised.
• The main problem of clustering is nonuniform clustering which leads to high energy
dissipation of sensor node, total energy consumption increases, and network connectivity
not being guaranteed
 Clustering in WSN
• Due to scarce resources in WSN, direct communication of
sensor node with BS or multihop communication of sensor
nodes towards BS is not practical as energy consumption is
high which results in early expiry of sensor nodes as shown in
Figure.
• Direct communication or single-tier communication is not
feasible for large scale network as WSN cannot support
long-haul communication.
• Direct communication has its disadvantages such as high
energy consumption, duplication of data, and farthest nodes
dying quickly.
• To overcome these problems, two-tier communication
through hierarchical approach is used where nodes are
grouped into clusters.
• Leader node also called cluster head (CH) is responsible for
aggregating the data and then forwarding it to the BS.
 Two-level hierarchy
• Hierarchical network structure often makes a two-level
hierarchy, in which the cluster heads are placed at the upper
level, and the lower level is for member nodes.
• The lower level nodes periodically send data to their respective
CH.
• The cluster head then aggregates that data and forwards it to
BS.
• The CH node spends more energy than member nodes, like all
the time CH node is sending data over long distances.
• Moreover, after certain rounds, the selected CH may be unable
to perform or perish due to high energy consumption. In order
to ensure load balancing among sensor nodes, the role of CH is
changed periodically to balance the energy consumption.
• Communication within a cluster is single-hop (intracluster) and
between clusters is multihop (intercluster) as shown in Figure.
• Cluster-based and grid-based techniques are the most
commonly used hierarchical techniques
 Lightweight Clustering
• In most of the WSN outdoor applications in unattended environments, it is not easy to
recharge the battery or replace the entire sensor. Due to limited hardware, the processing
capabilities also need to be considered. A lightweight clustering algorithm is required
because of the limited memory. Moreover, with these restrictions, it is very difficult to
manage scalability and prolong network lifetime.
• Along with the above-mentioned limitations, following are some other challenges which
need to be addressed properly while designing clustering algorithms
 Design Challenges in Clustering
• The cluster formation process and the number of clusters are very important factors in clustering protocols.
• The clusters should be well balanced, and the number of messages exchanged during cluster formation should be
minimized.
• The complexity of the algorithm should increase linearly as the network grows.
• Cluster head selection is another important challenge that directly affects the network performance.
• The best possible node should be selected so that the network stability period and overall network lifetime should
be maximized.
• In most of the techniques, CH selection is based on several parameters such as energy level and the location of the
node.
• Data aggregation is performed on the sensed data received by CH from member nodes; that is why it is still
considered as the fundamental design challenge.
• It should also be considered that the designed clustering algorithm should be able to handle different application
requirements, as WSN is application dependent.
• Another very important factor is to make sure that the designed algorithm is secure enough and can be used in
applications where data is very much sensitive such as a military application or health monitoring.
 Clustering Parameters
Clustering parameters that can directly or indirectly affect the cluster formation process are discussed
below.
(i) Cluster Count. In most of the existing approaches, cluster head selection and cluster formation lead to
different cluster count, where the number of clusters is predefined. It is a key parameter concerning
clustering algorithm efficiency, which varies depending on network size.
(ii) Cluster Formation. The approach of cluster formation can be centralized where the decision of cluster
formation is handled by BS, while in distributed approach clusters are formed without any coordination. In
literature, hybrid approaches are also being used where the advantages of both approaches are used.
(iii) Intracluster Communication. It means the communication of sensor nodes with its elected CH within a
cluster. In most of the approaches sensor nodes directly (one-hop) communicate with CH as it depends on
the distance between node and CH. In large scale network, multihop communication may also be adopted
for intracluster communication.
(iv) Mobility. In static network, the sensor nodes and cluster heads are static results in stable clusters.
Moreover, static position of nodes results in facilitated network (intracluster and intercluster) management.
The cluster and CH evolve concerning time if the nodes change their position, thus requiring continuous
maintenance.
 Clustering Parameters
(v) Node Types. In the existing proposed approaches, some of them have used heterogeneous nodes,
and some have used homogeneous nodes in a network. In a heterogeneous environment, usually, CHs
are equipped with high communication and computation resources than normal nodes. While in the
homogenous network, all nodes have same capabilities and few of them are nominated as CH through
efficient techniques.
(vi) Cluster Head Selection. The overall network performance also depends on cluster head selection.
In some proposed techniques, the cluster head is predefined (usually in heterogeneous
environments). In most cases, the CH selection is based on various parameters (distance from nodes
and center, energy level, etc.) or probabilistic approach is used or it is done through any random
technique.
(vii) Multilevel Cluster Hierarchy. In literature, several techniques used the concept of the multilevel
cluster to attain even improved energy consumption and distribution. Sensor node communicates
with CH in their respective level 1 clusters which further communicates with level 2 clusters. In this
approach, intercluster communication is of high significance, especially for large scale networks.
(viii) Algorithm Complexity. Another important parameter in clustering is the algorithm complexity;
aim of recent algorithms is the quick formation of clusters and selection of CH. In most techniques,
the time complexity or convergence is kept constant while in some it depends on a number of sensor
 Taxonomy of Hierarchical Clustering
Approaches
In WSN, the existing clustering protocols fall into different groups, that is, (i) homogeneous and
heterogeneous networks, (ii) centralized or distributed algorithms, (iii) static and dynamic clustering,
(iv) probabilistic and nonprobabilistic algorithms, and (v) uniform and nonuniform clustering
approach.
(i) Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Networks. The clustering techniques for homogeneous and
heterogeneous networks are built on the characteristics and capability of sensor nodes in a cluster. In
homogenous networks, all of the sensor nodes have similar processing and hardware capabilities.
While in heterogeneous networks, where there are usually two types of sensor nodes, nodes with
higher hardware and processing capabilities are usually used as CH within a cluster, function as data
collectors, or even can be used as a backbone within the network. Nodes having lower capabilities are
common sensor nodes that sense the desired field attributes.
(ii) Centralized or Distributed Algorithms. In centralized algorithms, usually, CH or BS is responsible
for network partitioning and cluster formation. These types of algorithms are usually not suitable for
large scale networks and more suitable for limited-scale applications. Whereas, in the distributed
techniques CH election, selection and cluster formation are done by the sensor nodes themselves to
gain flexibility and quick execution and convergence time. Usually distributed algorithms are more
commonly used in the homogeneous environment. Hybrid techniques are also used where
 Taxonomy of Hierarchical Clustering
Approaches
(iii) Static and Dynamic Clustering. Clustering in WSN can be static or dynamic depending on the application
requirements. In static clustering, the cluster formation and CH election are fixed. Once clusters are formed, and CH
are elected, then it will remain for a long time. In most of the techniques, clusters are formed once, but CHs are
periodically changed to gain energy efficiency. Dynamic clustering offers high energy efficiency by the periodic
reelection of CH and reformation of clusters. It is used, where topology frequently changes and clusters needs to
reorganize to effectively react to topological changes and leads to improved energy efficiency.

(iv) Probabilistic and Nonprobabilistic Approaches. In probabilistic clustering approaches, each sensor node is
assigned a prior probability to decide whether the CHs or any random selection technique is used. Moreover, the
probabilities assigned to nodes act as primary criteria, but some other secondary criteria can also be used during the
process of CH reselection or cluster reformation for improved energy consumption and maximizing network lifetime.
Also, these techniques have fast execution and convergence time and minimize the number of exchange messages.
In nonprobabilistic clustering techniques, deterministic criteria are considered for CH election and cluster
formation/reformation. In addition, it mainly depends on the information received from one-hop or multihop
neighbours and requires excessive messages to be exchanged resulting in worse time complexity than the
probabilistic approaches. Moreover, nondeterministic approaches give more reliable, robust, and balanced clusters,
as the selection is based on multiple criteria such as residual energy, node proximity, mobility, and transmission
power.
 Taxonomy of Hierarchical Clustering
Approaches
(v) Uniform and Nonuniform Clustering Approach. In uniform clustering approach, the number of
nodes is evenly distributed among clusters to achieve energy efficiency. However, it is often
applicable in environments where nodes are static, and their location is predefined . Moreover, in
nonuniform clustering, the number of nodes is not uniform per cluster. In clustering, many to one
pattern is used for data forwarding; nodes nearer to BS are used frequently which leads to high
energy consumption. Most of the deployment in WSN is random, where sensor nodes are distributed
unevenly. Some efforts are made to come up with some solutions regarding the uniform distribution
of load and to achieve energy efficiency through nonuniform deployment of nodes.

On the basis of the above classifications, clustering has been widely used for various applications in
different environments to attain energy efficiency and network scalability in WSN. Instead of sending
messages to all nodes, a head node is responsible for forwarding data to the BS to preserve energy. In
addition, clustering technique can simplify management of the nodes, reduce energy consumption,
improve load balancing, increase scalability and robustness, and improve data aggregation. In
literature, different hierarchical clustering schemes are proposed for energy efficiency and maximizing
network lifetime. Few of them are discussed in the forthcoming section.
 Cluster-Based Hierarchical Approaches
• Clustering approaches are used to simplify the node management, to reduce energy consumption, to
achieve scalability, and to improve load balancing and robustness and data aggregation.
• Nodes are grouped to form clusters. A node that is known as a cluster head (CH) is made responsible for
gathering data from member nodes (MN), aggregates it, and then forwards to the BS directly or
through some intermediate CH.
• Instead of sending data of all sensor nodes in a cluster, CH only sends the aggregated data, which in
turn minimize the number of packets transmitted in a network and minimize energy consumption.
• The data received from a CH node is further processed at the base station, where end users access it.
• The position of BS can be within a field or can be placed outside the network area. Usually, BS is placed
outside and at a distance from the sensor nodes.
• The data sensed by sensor node is forwarded through a gateway (CH) to the BS.
• The multilevel clustering hierarchy can have more than one BS in the network (if needed).
• In literature, various attempts have been made to improve the energy efficiency through different
clustering techniques by addressing the problems of efficient cluster formation, even distribution of
load, CH selection and reselection, and cluster reformation; few of them are discussed here.
 Cluster-Based Hierarchical Approaches
(i) Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy. Low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) was proposed by
Heinzelman et al., which was one of the first energy efficient routing protocols and is still used as a state-of-the-art
protocol in WSN. The basic idea of LEACH was to select CH among a number of nodes by rotation so that energy
dissipation from communication can be spread to all nodes in a network. The operation is divided into two phases, the
setup phase and steady-state phase. In the setup phase, each node decides whether to become a CH or not for the
current round which depends on the CHs percentage suggested and a number of times a node has been CH.
Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy Centralized. Low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy centralized (LEACH-C)
is the modified version of LEACH. In LEACH-C the clusters are formed by base station whereas in LEACH each node
self-configures them into cluster. The BS receives all the information regarding the energy and location of all the nodes
deployed in the network. By doing so, BS determines the number of cluster head (CH) and arranges network into various
clusters. However, due to lack of coordination among nodes, the number of CHs varies from round to round. In LEACH-C
the number of CHs in each round equals an optimum determined value. A centralized routing approach is one in which
BS computes the average energy of a network for a set of sensor nodes having energy level above average. A CH will be
selected from the set of nodes to ensure that nodes selected should have sufficient energy to be a cluster head. The
network is split into two subclusters and then they are further divided into the desired number of CHs. By this way, the
nodes are evenly distributed to ensure that load is eventually distributed. The BS selects lowest energy routing paths
and forwards the information of clustering and CH to all nodes in the network using a minimum spanning tree approach.
However, due to centralized approach communication overhead will increase in the reselection of CH, because
reselection decision has to be made by BS. In addition, every cluster will send request; thus energy consumption will be
high.
 Cluster-Based Hierarchical Approaches
iii) Cluster Chain Weighted Metrics. Cluster chain weighted metrics (CCWM) achieve energy efficiency and
increase network performance based on weighted metrics. A set of CHs is selected depending on these metrics.
Member nodes use direct communication for transferring data towards their respective CHs. A routing chain of
elected CHs is constructed for interclusters communication and each CH forwards data to its neighbouring CH until
it reaches BS. This approach improves overall network lifespan. However, due to nonoptimized CH election, the
reelection of CH results in network overheads. Moreover, intracluster communication is direct which leads to
uneven energy consumption.
iv) Energy-Aware Distributed Clustering (EADC). Energy-Aware Distributed Clustering (EADC) is proposed for
nonuniform deployment of sensor nodes to balance the load across the entire network. EADC constructs unequal
clusters to solve the problem of energy holes. Through routing algorithm, the CHs choose nodes with high energy
along with least hop count to member nodes to achieve load balancing in CHs. The cluster head is then selected
on the basis of the ratio of average remaining energy of nearby nodes and the energy of node itself. Some of the
sensor nodes were redundant, consuming extra energy which was ignored in EADC. The redundant nodes can be
turned OFF based on the schedule. Furthermore, the overall energy consumption can be reduced by avoiding
unnecessary sensing and transmission.
 Cluster-Based Hierarchical Approaches
• Energy-Aware Distributed Unequal Clustering. The problem of energy hole was addressed in
energy-aware distributed unequal clustering (EADUC) by considering unequal sized clusters.
Nodes having different energy resources are considered and clusters with unequal sizes are
constructed to solve the energy hole problem. Authors claim that the obtained results were
better in comparison with LEACH regarding energy efficiency and maximizing network
lifetime. EADUC achieves energy efficiency through unequal cluster formation. However, the
redundancy of data in dense area is not considered in EADUC which leads to unnecessary
energy consumption affecting network lifetime.
 Grid-Based Approaches
• In grid-based clustering techniques, the whole area is partitioned into virtual grids. The grid-based techniques are popular
due to their simplified management.
• The CH selection is usually done by the nodes themselves which makes it suitable for large scale networks.
• The focus of this work is on grid-based clustering. The main objective of grid-based techniques is to more effectively utilise
the limited resources especially battery, which is usually not replaceable nor rechargeable.
• Gridding significantly contributes to overall network lifespan, energy efficiency, and system scalability. Grid-based
techniques are very useful for scalable networks where some nodes in a network are hundreds and even thousands in
number.
• In addition to the objectives mentioned above, grid-based clustering offers some other secondary advantages which add up
to the overall network performance.
• Through gridding, the routing table of a single node can be reduced by localizing the route setup. Due to grids, the network
topology maintenance overhead can be cut down at the sensor node level thus resulting in the more stable network.
• CH can switch the member nodes to low power or sleep mode to reduce the energy consumption.
• Due to all of the above-discussed objectives, grid-based clustering techniques are widely used by researchers to achieve
energy efficiency and prolong network lifetime..
• Some of the existing grid-based approaches proposed in the literature are discussed with advantages and disadvantages,
which are below.
 Grid-Based Approaches
(i) Grid-Based Data Dissemination. In grid-based data dissemination (GBDD), BS divided the network into equal sized
square grid cells. The node that first shows interest in sending data is set as a crossing point (CP) of the grid, and its
coordinates become the starting point for the grid cells creation. The cell size depends on the twofold range of
sensor nodes. Every node works in two modes, high power radio (high range transmission) and low power radio (low
range transmission). In intelligent grid-based data dissemination (IGBDD) network is partitioned into virtual grids. It
is the enhanced version of GBDD in which CH selection is based on the location of the virtual cross point (CP) and
there is no need to send any data to the neighbouring nodes for CP selection. GBDD guarantees continuous data
transfer from source to destination but consumes extra energy when the speed is high.

(ii) Grid-Based Hybrid Network Deployment Scheme. A grid-based hybrid network deployment approach (GHND), in
which the whole network is divided into virtual squared grids, where each grid represents a zone. Initially, the
network topology is constructed using centralized approach, in which BS initiates the grid formation and cluster
head selection process. To evenly distribute the nodes, a merge and split technique is used. Zones with low density
and high density are identified and called candidate zones on the basis of lower bound (LB) and upper bound (UB).
In order to achieve energy efficiency, the nonprobabilistic approach is used for cluster head selection based on
various parameters. The proposed method enhances network stability and lifetime and performs better than LEACH,
PEGASIS, and CBDAS.
 Grid-Based Approaches
(iii) Cycle Based Data Aggregation Scheme. Cycle based data aggregation scheme (CBDAS) is a
grid-based approach where the whole network is divided into 2D square sized grid cells. In CBDAS cyclic
chain is constructed where each cell head is linked to another cell head. In each round, one cell head
acts as a cyclic head (selected by BS) having high energy level. Each cell head will only transmit data to
the cycle head. Through cycle head, the amount of traffic is reduced, and energy consumption is less
because only cycle head is responsible for communicating directly with BS. The disadvantage of CBDAS
is that cycled head can be far away from BS thus consuming more energy due to long distance and may
die early. Furthermore, far away nodes will suffer from such problem and can partition the network by
breaking chain.

(iv) Distributed Uniform Clustering Algorithm. A distributed uniform clustering algorithm (DUCA) is
introduced to evenly distribute the cluster heads and to decrease the differences in the cluster sizes.
Grid approach is used for clustering, but each grid does not represent a cluster. Overlapped regions are
identified which helped in reducing the cluster sizes, as it often occurs in random deployment. The
cluster head selection is based on LEACH which selects the CH based on random number thus ignoring
other important parameters and may lead to the suboptimal selection of CH.
 Grid-Based Approaches
• v) Grid Sectoring. Grid Sectoring (GS) is aimed at even distribution of load and energy consumption over uniform
and random deployment of nodes in the field. In GS the whole network is partitioned into equal sized grids and is
further divided into sectors, each representing a cluster. The node which is nearer to the center of a cluster is
selected as cluster head. The area of interest is divided into small sectors until an optimum number of clusters are
attained. The optimum number of clusters is 5 percent to the number of nodes. In this approach, number of
sensor nodes per cluster varies and can result in isolated nodes thus leading to network partitioning where nodes
will be unable to communicate but still have enough energy.

• (vi) Grid-Based Reliable Routing. The authors in presented a grid-based reliable routing (GBRR) mechanism, in
which virtual clusters are formed on the basis of grids. Features of cluster and grid-based are combined to achieve
adaptability for dense and large scale randomly deployed sensors. An active node is selected as head node and to
avoid exhaustion of CH, GBRR calculates the effective paths within and between clusters. Moreover, source node
does not need to transmit via head node and can bypass it if the route is effective towards the BS. As several grids
may represent one cluster, so the area covered by that cluster will be large as compared to other cluster having
one grid. Furthermore, the node at the edge of a cluster might lead to suboptimal CH selection where the member
nodes may require high energy consumption due to large distance resulting in early depletion of sensor battery.
 Grid-Based Approaches
v) Randomized Grid-Based Approach. A randomized grid-based approach for complete area
coverage in WSN achieves energy efficiency and throughput. The whole area is divided into
virtual grids depending on the number of nodes in the deployed area. Instead of selecting a
certain percentage of nodes as CH from each grid, a single node is selected for a single grid and
is repeated for all grids until it satisfies the whole network area. The 2-Voronoi method is used
to deactivate the nodes which are redundant and come up with a minimum number of active
nodes that can satisfy the coverage of the whole network. Energy efficiency is achieved by
avoiding redundant nodes. However, if the active nodes do not cover the area, then the step of
choosing the percentage of nodes will be repeated resulting in energy overhead.
 Short Questions
• What is a wireless sensor network?
• Discuss various uses of wireless sensor networks.
• What is the ZigBee technology? Discuss briefly
• What are piconet and scatternet in Bluetooth?
• The hopping rate of 1600 hops per second is used in Bluetooth that carries 240 bits in a 1-slot
packet. If each frame of the HV2 voice packet carries 160 bits of sample speech, what is the
effi ciency of packet transmission? How often are HV2 packets sent to support 64 kbps voice
in each direction?
• List any four applications of WSN.
• State the important characteristics of WSN
• List out the different types of interaction pattern between sources and sinks in WSN.
• Why is multihop wireless communication required for WSN?
• Draw the architecture of a sensor node.
 Short Questions
1.Compare MANET and WSN.
2.Discuss the characteristic requirements of WSN.
3.Why multihop wireless communication is required for WSN?
4.What is MANET? State its characteristics.
5.What is Clustering?
6.State the applications of MANET.
7.What are characteristics and applications of Bluetooth technology?
8.Briefly discuss various issues in Ad-hoc wireless networks.
9.Differentiate the techniques comes under WPAN.
10.State the comparison of UWB with other WPAN technologies.
11. What are the ZigBee Components? Write in short.
12. Why energy consumption is biggest challenge in WSN?
13. Write specifications of : a) Bluetooth, ZigBee, UWB
14. Discuss the characteristic requirements of WSN.
 Long Questions
1.State the topologies of WSN
2.State applications of WSN
3.Draw and explain the structure of sensor Node.
4.Differentiate between WSNs and MANETs.
5.Explain grid topology with its structure.
6. Write a short note on energy efficient clustering approaches in WSNs
7.Explain the Bluetooth protocol stack.
8.Explain ZigBee model.
9.What is piconet and scatternet? Explain.
10.What is UWB technology? How it is different from other technologies?
11.State the challenges of WSN.
12.Write applications of : a) MANET b) UWB c)WSN
13.Briefly specify IEEE 802.15.4 MAC protocol.
14. Can the MAC protocols of 802.11 & Bluetooth be used for WSN? Justify.
15. What are the advantages of clustering?
Thank You