Modelling the energy cost of a fully operational wireless sensor network

Several applications have been proposed for wireless sensor networks, including habitat monitoring, structural health monitoring, pipeline monitoring, precision agriculture, active volcano monitoring, and many more. The energy consumption of these applications is a critical feasibility metric that defines the scope and usefulness of wireless sensor networks. This paper provides a comprehensive energy model for a fully functional wireless sensor network. While the model uses toxic gas detection in oil refineries as an example application, it can easily be generalized. The model provides a sufficient insight about the energy demand of the existing or proposed communication protocols.