Energy-aware preferential attachment model for wireless sensor networks with improved survivability

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in topology research of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) where both energy consumption and survivability need careful consideration. To balance energy consumption and ensure survivability against both random failures and deliberate attacks, we resort to complex network theory and propose an energy-aware preferential attachment (EPA) model to generate a robust topology for WSNs. In the proposed model, by taking the transmission range and energy consumption of the sensor nodes into account, we combine the characters of Erdős -Rényi (ER) model and Barabasi-Albert (BA) model in this new model and introduce tunable coefficients for balancing connectivity, energy consumption, and survivability. The correctness of our theoretic analysis is verified by simulation results. We find that the topology of WSNs built by EPA model is asymptotically power-law and can have different characters in connectivity, energy consumption, and survivability by using different coefficients. This model can significantly improve energy efficiency as well as enhance network survivability by changing coefficients according to the requirement of the real environment where WSNs deployed and therefore lead to a crucial improvement of network performance.