Extending the Forward Error Correction Paradigm for Multi-Hop Wireless Sensor Networks

In typical Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications, the sensor nodes deployed are constrained both in computational and energy resources. For this reason, simple communication protocols are usually employed along with short-range multi-hop topologies. In this paper, we challenge this notion and propose a structure that employs more robust (and naturally more complex) forward-error correction schemes in multi-hop extended star topologies. We demonstrate using simulation and real-world data based on popular WSN platforms that this approach can actually reduce the overall energy consumption of the nodes by significant margins (from 40 to 70%) compared to traditional WSN schemes that do not support sophisticated communication mechanisms and it is feasible to implement it economically without relying on expensive hardware.