Repeatable experiments with a power efficient routing and scheduling controller

In this paper a newmethodology for a rigorous assessment of energy efficiency within an 802.15.4 wireless Sensor Network is presented. In a novel application of an Azimuth W-series WLAN test setup, a platform is proposed that supports repeatable optimisation based routing and scheduling experiments and explicitly supports the movement of network nodes in a controlled, repeatable environment. A two queue down-link experiment is initially proposed as a benchmark study to assess the practical implementation of energy efficiency algorithms. Later, a fully isolated four node mesh network is considered in this context. A range of simulation based energy efficiency studies is critically assessed in a practical setting in terms of energy efficiency, throughput and link utility that can be achieved. The authors' experimentation determines that an approach based on the use of Lyapunov drift techniques yields considerable energy savings and increased throughput.