Reliability Modeling of Wireless Sensor Networks: A Review

Background: Through smart micro sensor devices networked via wireless links and the Internet, wireless sensor networks offer unprecedented opportunities for diverse applications, such as healthcare, military, industry automation, and monitoring, environmental sensing, etc. It is one of the enabling technologies for many Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems. Due to the mission-critical nature of these systems, it is imperative that a wireless sensor network operates correctly throughout the intended mission time. Thus, modeling the reliability of wireless sensor networks is a critical task for their successful operations. Objective: This article is aimed to review the state-of-the-art work on the reliability modeling and analysis of wireless sensor networks. Methods: The existing reliability modeling works for wireless sensor networks are identified and classified based on different aspects, including scope, topology, communication paradigms, designs, and reliability evaluation methods. Patents contributing to the reliability of wireless sensor networks are also discussed. Conclusion: A rich body of works have been suggested for the reliability modeling and analysis of wireless sensor networks contributing to their robust design and resilient operation. However, there is still a great need to explore more efficient and innovative solutions to capture new aspects of system complexity related to the development and growth of wireless sensor networks in contemporary and future critical applications.