A small world model based on multi-interface and multi-channel to design heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

In this work, we propose a small world model to design Heterogeneous Sensor Networks (HSNs). The proposed model takes into account the communication pattern of this network to create shortcuts directed to the monitoring node, decreasing data communication latency. The endpoints of these shortcuts are nodes with more powerful communication range and energy reserves to support the long communication range. However, this kind of communication causes a high interference in the wireless channel. For this, the proposed model uses the multi-interface and multi-channel capability of the MAC layer to reduce the number of collisions during data communication. Simulation results showed that with just a few powerful nodes, a wireless sensor network can be tuned into a HSN with small world features. Also, when the shortcuts are directed to the monitoring node and assigned to a different wireless channel, the number of collisions and the data communication latency are reduced.