A utility-based sensing and communication model for a glacial sensor network

This paper reports on the development of a utility-based mechanism for managing sensing and communication in cooperative multi-sensor networks. The specific application considered is that of GLACSWEB, a deployed system that uses battery-powered sensors to collect environmental data related to glaciers which it transmits back to a base station so that it can be made available world-wide to researchers. In this context, we first develop a sensing protocol in which each sensor locally adjusts its sensing rate based on the value of the data it believes it will observe. Then, we detail a communication protocol that finds optimal routes for relaying this data back to the base station based on the cost of communicating it (derived from the opportunity cost of using the battery power for relaying data). Finally, we empirically evaluate our protocol by examining the impact on efficiency of the network topology, the size of the network, and the degree of dynamism of the environment. In so doing, we demonstrate that the efficiency gains of our new protocol, over the currently implemented method over a 6 month period, are 470%, 250% and 300% respectively