ABSTRACT
Distributed sensor networks are envisioned to support various new applications that monitor and interact with the physical world [1–3]. These networks are made of many small interacting nodes that have computing, communication and sensing abilities. Many sensor network applications in eco-monitoring (forest fires, soil moisture) and disaster tracking (contaminant transport, volcanic plume flow tracking) require the sensors to be deployed in locations that are inaccessible (or expensive to access) requiring the sensor nodes to support wireless communication. Further, the sheer number of sensors deployed in distributed networks (in addition to inaccessibility to some nodes) makes it essential for the individual nodes to operate unattended for long duration. A major limiter to the lifetime of the sensor networks is the limited energy available in these nodes. The limited capacity of the battery pack on these nodes and the inability to replace the batteries in these unattended systems makes it important to conserve the energy consumption in the systems.
