| As wireless sensor networks (WSNs) increasingly attract more and more attention, and its applications are broader and broader. For odour monitoring, it is a novel attempt. New technologies for specific challenges are continually developed, many of which involve energy consumption of nodes; however, not much has been done to optimize the quality of service (QoS) of WSNs. Many applications, such as target tracking, require good QoS. Besides, certain factors restrict the ability of multi-hop sensor networks to achieve desired goals. For example, network congestion causes long delay and low throughput; sensor nodes have limited energy and computation capability; and packet loss is induced by interferences and mobility. In this thesis, a new portable wireless electronic nose network is developed for real-time surveillance of odours in and around livestock and poultry farms. In addition, a novel bio-inspired QoS and energy-aware routing algorithm is developed for wireless sensor networks. Based on an ant colony optimization idea, it can realize QoS requirements in an energy-aware fashion, at the same time balance the node energy utilization to maximize the network lifetime. Extensive simulation results under various experimental settings demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of packet delivery rate, overhead, load balance, and the delay, in comparison to the existing directed diffusion routing algorithm. |
