Energy-aware test connection assignment for the self-diagnosis of a wireless sensor network

Sensor nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are prone to failures due to the fragile hardware, malicious attacks, or hostile or harsh environment. In order to assure reliable, long-term monitoring of the phenomenon under investigation, a major challenge is to detect node malfunctions as soon as possible and with an energy efficient approach. We address this problem by using a system-level diagnosis strategy in which the sink issues to the WSN a self-diagnosis task that involves a number of mutual tests among sensors. Based on the test outcomes, the sink executes the diagnosis procedure. This work presents an algorithm for the assignment of tests among the sensors of a WSN that assures the desired system diagnosability and that is aware of energy consumption. We show by simulation experiments that the present approach, as compared to a previous one, enables consistent energy savings on the sensors. © 2012 The Brazilian Computer Society.