The effect of node deployment scheme on LWSN lifetime for railway monitoring applications

A large number of sensor nodes are deployed to remote locations and left unattended for a long time in wireless sensor network applications. When a battery-powered sensor node depletes its energy, it is assumed as “dead” and recharging or replacing the battery is not possible in most of the applications. Lifetime of the wireless sensor network depends on the efficient use of available restricted energy. Railway monitoring application of Linear Wireless Sensor Networks (LWSNs) which are a subclass of wireless sensor networks is considered in this paper. The objective of this study is to present the effect of proper node deployment in extending the linear wireless sensor network lifetime. Thanks to proposed deployment scheme, it is shown that the energy consumption of the LWSN is lowered and thus the lifetime of the network is increased.