Design of Low-Power Wireless Sensor Network with Simplified Protocol

The design of effective Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is an important research and application field. It generates energy-efficient solutions to monitor the environment, industrial processes, and buildings. Gathered data offer various opportunities; one of the most prominent is the ability to enhance the management of environments and processes. Recently, WSNs are gaining importance because of widespread of the Internet of Things paradigm that connects all computing systems and resources in a common, structured network. In the article, the design case of WSN is presented. First, a general overview of WSNs concept is given. The importance of low-power consumption in WSNs is stressed. The general requirements are defined for the implementation with the low-power consumption as the particularly important goal. As a consequence, more lightweight and low-power compatible network protocol (SimpliciTl) has been chosen for the design. The hardware and software implementation details for network end and access point nodes are presented in details. The SimpliciTl protocol needed a few important supplements to be more efficient and reliable in practical utilization; the supplemented features are also outlined. The final result of the presented work is the operational prototype of low-power WSN eco-system that can be adapted, by setting various configuration parameters, to the specific context of each practical application.