Efficient corona training protocols for sensor networks

Phenomenal advances in nano-technology and packaging have made it possible to develop miniaturized low-power devices that integrate sensing, special-purpose computing, and wireless communications capabilities. It is expected that these small devices, referred to as sensors, will be mass-produced and deployed, making their production cost negligible. Due to their small form factor and modest non-renewable energy budget, individual sensors are not expected to be GPS-enabled. Moreover, in most applications, exact geographic location is not necessary, and all that the individual sensors need is a coarse-grain location awareness. The task of acquiring such a coarse-grain location awareness is referred to as training. In this paper, two scalable energy-efficient training protocols are proposed for massively-deployed sensor networks, where sensors are initially anonymous and unaware of their location. The training protocols are lightweight and simple to implement; they are based on an intuitive coordinate system imposed onto the deployment area which partitions the anonymous sensors into clusters where data can be gathered from the environment and synthesized under local control.