International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.

8, August 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

36

A Study on Topology Control in Wireless Sensor
Network

Arathy S.lal
1
,Remya Annie Eapen
2
Department of ECE
1, 2
, PG Student
1
, Assistant Professor
2

Email: lalaaru.slal@gmail.com
1
,remyaannieeapen@gmail.com
2


Abstract- The sensor nodes in the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are prone to deterioration due to many
reasons, for example, harsh environment or running out of battery therefore, the WSNs are expected to be able
to retain network connectivity. Topology Control (TC) is one of the most important technique used to reduce
energy utilization . This technique integrate the decisions of network nodes about their transmission power for
prolong network lifetime to save energy while preserving network connectivity. The topology control is a
crucial process to maximize the network lifetime of wireless sensor networks.
Index Terms- Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Topology Control, Network lifetime
1. INTRODUCTION
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have become a
looming technology that has a extensive range of
potential functioning including object tracking,
environment monitoring, scientific forecasting and
observing , traffic control and etc. The nodes in
WSNs are more likely to be detached from each other.
In WSNs, hundreds or thousands of sensor nodes are
often randomly setup in inaccessible areas where
battery cannot to be recharged or replaced .On the
other hand, the sensor nodes are subject to
unpredictable node flaw, for example, deployment in
a hostile environment.
The main idea of TC techniques is to regulate nodes
transmission power to achieve several purpose such as
reducing interference, reducing energy consumption,
and increasing network. Transmission power control
has very crucial effects on throughput and energy-
efficiency of WSNs. A convenient transmission
power for a node transmitting a packet to its
neighboring node can save battery power, at the same
time, the traffic carrying capacity of network can be
upgraded if every node can adjust its transmission
power to appropriate level when it is transmitting the
relevant information. Topology control has three
phases: sensor deployment, topology construction,
and topology maintenance. First, the sensor
deployment phase is common to all WSN
applications. After this initialization phase, the second
phase is to build a new unique topology, called the
topology construction phase. In this phase, a new
topology is constructed while preserving connectivity.
The main goal of the topology construction phase is to
construct a topology that saves energy and retain
network connection. Soon after the topology
construction phase the topology maintenance phase
must begin. During this phase, nodes updates
topology status and provoke a new topology
construction phase.





Over a networks lifetime, this cycle continues until
node energy is drained.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Paper [1] proposes a distributed protocol called
COMPOW, in which the minimum common
transmitting range is adopted for network
connectivity .From the result analysis its evident that
the value of transmitting range has the valuable
effects, of reducing the controversy to access the
wireless channel, maximizing network capacity and
minimizing the energy consumption for wireless
sensor network.
2. As in paper [2] an Optimal Geographical Density
Control (OGDC) algorithm is proposed which
addresses both connectivity and sensing coverage in
wireless sensor networks. The intention of the
algorithm is to compute the minimum number of
nodes that must be kept awake such that both sensing
coverage and connectivity are preserved. The
algorithm is decentralized but demands the network
to be sufficiently dense to assure connectivity.
3. In [3], the authors introduce a distributed
algorithm called Local Minimum Spanning Tree
(LMST) for topology control based on the
construction of spanning trees by adjusting the
transmission range . Each node runs an algorithm to
build a spanning tree and control the transmission
power to get the one hop nodes in the tree. The major
drawback of LMST is that it needs the development
of a spanning tree for each node, which urges a large
overhead.
4. In [4], the authors found out that the average range
calculated by using a variable transmission range is
half than when using the common transmission
range. The network capacity does not depend on the
number of nodes in the network, so the density of the
network does not affect the network capacity, unlike
the case of the common transmission range.
International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.8, August 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

37

5. Moscibroda et al. [5] studied the drawback of
traditional network models and resolved the impact
of topology control on link scheduling based on a
physical.Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio
(SINR) model. In contradiction to the deterministic
graph models, a network model that is convenient for
lossy WSNs has been proposed.
6. Burri et al.[6] introduced a data-gathering protocol
Dozer, that united considers topology control,
medium access control (MAC) layer, and routing to
save energy. Dozer utilize a tree-based network
structure so as to coordinate the nodes sleeping
schedules, to route the data, and achieves low radio
duty cycles.. A simple network topology is proposed
to estimate network lifetime and energy
consumption.
7. The enormous majority of the topology control
results is been evaluated in various literatures. It is
challenging to assess the real feasibility of
clarification to real network scenarios, where many
of the hypothesis made during the analysis may not
hold true any longer. Even though much work has
been done on the implementation of real-life test bed
for WSNs, out of that hardly few papers have
appeared on experimental studies of power control
and topology solutions for sensor networks, with the
prominent omissions provided by [7] and [8].
8. A distributed energy-efficient topology control
(DETC) algorithm for home machine-to-machine
(M2M) networks was has been established by the
authorsin [9]. The DETC algorithm can execute
only in home M2M networks. In this system, nodes
create and maintain energy- efficient links
autonomously and accomplish pro- longed lifetime
with weaken energy cost.
9. Ding et al.[10] enforced an adaptive partitioning
scheme for node scheduling and topology control in
sensor networks with the objective of reducing
energy consumption. The connectivity-based
partition scheme (CPA) divides nodes based on their
measured connectivity instead of assuming
connectivity based on their positions. This scheme
guarantees connectivity for the backbone network.
10. In [11], a node placement algorithm was
proposed for a linear network topology. The
proposed node placement algorithm recognize the
number of forwarding message of each sensor and
tries to balance the energy consumption of all sensor
nodes. The research mainly focused on linear
network topology and did not consider the two
dimensional network topology. Even more, the
developed deployment algorithm cannot balance the
energy consumption for a randomly deployed WSN.
11.As in [12] & [13] proposed the first approximate
algorithms to estimate a virtual backbone using a
Connected Dominating Set(CDS).The most popular
method for energy-efficient(TC) in WSNs is the
CDS based topology control(TC).TC has two phases
specifically: topology construction and topology
maintenance. In the topology construction phase, a
desirable topological property is settled in the
network while providing connectivity. Once the
topology is constructed, topology maintenance phase
begins in which nodes switch. In the reduced
constructed topology CDS works as a virtual
backbone.
3. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an extensive study on topology control
issues in WSNs has been discussed. In this survey,
reviewed the basic rules of topology control to realize
the state of the arts. Different algorithms have been
devised by many authors each of those tend to
maintain energy efficient routing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank the almighty for giving me the
strength to work on this subject and t hereby coming
up with this review paper. I am grateful to my guide
and family members for supporting me and praying
for me. I would like to express my gratitude towards
the professors of Mar Baselios College of Engineering
and Technology for their valuable guidance
throughout.
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