Cohesion of Wireless Sensor Networks with MIMO Communications

Wireless sensor networks are an enabling technology for many future surveillance-oriented applications. Before a practical wireless sensor network is realized, however, significant challenges must be overcome. Chief among the obstacles to netted sensors is providing low power, robust communications between sensor nodes. Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) communication promises performance enhancements over conventional single input, single output (SISO) technology for the same radiated power. If leveraged in a sensor network, MIMO may be able to provide significant network performance improvements in power consumption, latency, and network robustness. However, improvements in the physical layer are not always realized in the higher layers. This paper investigates the benefit of MIMO implementations in multihop wireless sensor networks in terms of network cohesion—that is, the ability of the sensor nodes to form a completely connected network.