Hot Research Topics in Wireless Sensor Network
Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology is a group of sensors that are used for monitoring the physical conditions of the environment and then organizing the collected data from that monitoring at a central location. It measures environmental conditions like sound, temperature, humidity, wind, pollution levels, and so on.
In computer science and telecommunications, wireless sensor networks are an active research area. Therefore, some of the hot and trending topics to research about wireless sensor networks are as follows:
Clustering in Wireless Sensor Network
The idea behind the clustering technique in wireless sensor networks is to group the nodes in different overlapping clusters. Clustering enables the accumulation of the routing information, and hence, supports the adjustability of routing algorithms. In particular, the clustering enables the process of hierarchical routing in which routes are recorded between clusters that result in increased route lifetime and decreased control overhead. The communications in the cluster can be of two types such as inter-cluster or intra-cluster. Inter-cluster communication is the communication of nodes within the cluster whereas, intra-cluster communication is the communication between the clusters through the gateway nodes.
Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Network
Data aggregation is the process of gathering information from various sensors to eliminate unnecessary transmission and to provide fused information to the base station. Data aggregation generally gathers the information from various sensors at intermediate nodes and transmits the accumulated data to the base station. The data aggregation technique is used to increase the efficiency of energy. Data aggregation is performed at each node along the path.
Mobility Management in Wireless Sensor Network
In mobile sensors, the movement of sensors is automatic. Movement strategy and relocation of sensors are the two different aspects of mobility management in wireless sensor networks. There are three major movement strategies in wireless sensor networks such as force-based movement, graph-based movement, and assignment-based movement. The force-based movement algorithm uses the idea of virtual forces that enables sensors to move. The graph-based movement strategy tackles the area that is uncovered in the target field and moves sensors to cover the holes. The assignment-based movement algorithm determines the location to be placed and afterward, dispatches the sensors in an energy-efficient manner.
Underwater Sensor in Wireless Sensor Network
Underwater Sensor Network is one of the most trending research topics for the WSN thesis. It is, therefore, a developing and promising communication framework that enables a wide range of important applications like oceanographic data gathering, scientific ocean sampling, disaster prevention, assisted navigation and pollution, and environmental monitoring. The factors such as restricted bandwidth, high bit error rates, and large propagation delay have posed several challenges in the design and movement of underwater sensor networks.
Security Attacks in Wireless Sensor Network
The broadcasting nature, dynamic topology, and absence of infrastructure of wireless sensor network makes it vulnerable to various security threats. Communication establishment in an open environment exposes sensor networks to wireless sensor networks that can be classified into passive attacks and active attacks. A passive attack does not interrupt the protocol operation, rather it listens to the communication medium to discover valuable and important information. Whereas, an active attack modifies the information in the network. Other attacks are black-hole attacks and wormhole attacks. The black-hole attack is a kind of impersonation attack in which the adversary exploits the routing protocol to advertise itself to have the shortest route to the destination. Whereas, the wormhole attack is the advanced form of black hole attack in which the adversaries create a tunnel in the network between them and damage the entire routing process.
Energy-Efficient Routing Protocols
The most important problem that must be addressed in designing a data transmission algorithm for wireless sensor networks is to suggest an effective method for saving sensor node’s energy while meeting the needs and requirements of applications or users. In a wireless sensor network, the sensors transfer the gathered information either in a periodic manner or in an event-trigger manner that leads to unnecessary energy consumption causing the elimination of the node from the network.
Hence, above mentioned are trending research topics that research students can use in writing a WSN thesis. With the rapid increase in this field of study, these topics can be of utmost benefit for research students.