Using received signal strength variation for energy efficient data dissemination in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, the values of received signal strength indicator (RSSI) are studied for various deployment environments in wireless sensor networks. The accurate RSSI estimation can improve the accuracy of several algorithms used in localization, mobility, and routing. The experiments are conducted to investigate the variation in RSSI values with respect to: a) distance between transmitter and receiver, b) non-circular radio communication, and c) alignment of transmitter and receiver. The results show that because of a non-circular radio communication model and proper alignment techniques, the overall energy consumption of a sensor network can be reduced by 43%.