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On Optimal Resource Allocation in Virtual Sensor Networks

Carmen Delgado, José Ramón Gállego, María Canales, Jorge Ortín, Sonda Bousnina, Matteo Cesana

TL;DR

The paper tackles optimal resource allocation in virtual sensor networks by distributing physical resources of a general-purpose WSN to multiple concurrent applications under coverage, bandwidth, routing, and energy constraints. It formulates a comprehensive optimization model and proves NP-hardness, then delivers a LP-relaxation-based heuristic to obtain near-optimal solutions efficiently. The approach is validated on realistic node types (scalar and multimedia) and routing scenarios, showing virtualization increases the number of deployable applications and reduces active node counts by enabling shared infrastructure and multiple sinks. These results highlight the practical value of virtualization for flexible, energy-aware, and capacity-enhanced WSN deployments in IoT settings.

Abstract

Sensor network virtualization is a promising paradigm to move away from highlycustomized, application-specific wireless sensor networks deployment by opening up to the possibility of dynamically assigning general purpose physical resources to multiple stakeholder applications. In this field, this paper introduces an optimization framework to perform the allocation of physical shared resources of wireless sensor networks to multiple requesting applications. The proposed optimization framework aims at maximizing the total number of applications which can share a common physical network, while accounting for the distinguishing characteristics and limitations of the wireless sensor environment (limited storage, limited processing power, limited bandwidth, tight energy consumption requirements). Due to the complexity of the optimization problem, a heuristic algorithm is also proposed. The proposed framework is finally applied to realistic network topologies to provide a detailed performance evaluation and to assess the gain involved in letting multiple applications share a common physical network with respect to one-application, one-network vertical design approaches.

On Optimal Resource Allocation in Virtual Sensor Networks

TL;DR

The paper tackles optimal resource allocation in virtual sensor networks by distributing physical resources of a general-purpose WSN to multiple concurrent applications under coverage, bandwidth, routing, and energy constraints. It formulates a comprehensive optimization model and proves NP-hardness, then delivers a LP-relaxation-based heuristic to obtain near-optimal solutions efficiently. The approach is validated on realistic node types (scalar and multimedia) and routing scenarios, showing virtualization increases the number of deployable applications and reduces active node counts by enabling shared infrastructure and multiple sinks. These results highlight the practical value of virtualization for flexible, energy-aware, and capacity-enhanced WSN deployments in IoT settings.

Abstract

Sensor network virtualization is a promising paradigm to move away from highlycustomized, application-specific wireless sensor networks deployment by opening up to the possibility of dynamically assigning general purpose physical resources to multiple stakeholder applications. In this field, this paper introduces an optimization framework to perform the allocation of physical shared resources of wireless sensor networks to multiple requesting applications. The proposed optimization framework aims at maximizing the total number of applications which can share a common physical network, while accounting for the distinguishing characteristics and limitations of the wireless sensor environment (limited storage, limited processing power, limited bandwidth, tight energy consumption requirements). Due to the complexity of the optimization problem, a heuristic algorithm is also proposed. The proposed framework is finally applied to realistic network topologies to provide a detailed performance evaluation and to assess the gain involved in letting multiple applications share a common physical network with respect to one-application, one-network vertical design approaches.
Paper Structure (20 sections, 1 theorem, 18 equations, 14 figures)

This paper contains 20 sections, 1 theorem, 18 equations, 14 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. System model and optimization framework
  4. Constraints on coverage and on resources of the sensors
  5. Routing constraints
  6. Bandwidth constraints
  7. Energy constraints
  8. Complexity analysis
  9. Heuristic algorithm
  10. Performance evaluation
  11. Sensor nodes
  12. Applications
  13. Simulation Environment
  14. Benefits of virtualization
  15. Number of scalar and multimedia nodes
  16. ...and 5 more sections

Key Result

Theorem 1

The application deployment problem is NP-complete.

Figures (14)

  • Figure 1: Diagram of the heuristic algorithm
  • Figure 2: Number of active applications vs. offered applications per type. a) Total b) Scalar c) Visual
  • Figure 3: Number of active nodes vs. offered applications per type. a) Total b) Scalar c) Visual
  • Figure 4: Number of active applications vs. offered applications per type varying the type of nodes. a) Scalar b) Visual
  • Figure 5: Number of active nodes vs. offered applications per type varying the type of nodes. a) Scalar b) Visual
  • ...and 9 more figures

Theorems & Definitions (1)

  • Theorem 1