A Maintainability Evaluation Method for Wireless Sensor Networks Based on AHP and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation

With the wide applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the maintenance of WSNs is becoming more and more important. WSNs are generally powered by batteries and are difficult to retract once they are deployed. Therefore maintainability must be considered before deployment. After the system is in use, we also need know which networking area has poor maintainability so that we can take the necessary measures in time. This paper proposes a method for evaluating the maintainability of WSNs based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FEC) from the system perspective. Firstly, we analyze the factors affecting the maintainability of WSNs, which is evaluated hierarchically by calculating AHP. The main factors are hardware and software of the WSN nodes, wireless communication unit, and working environment, which are divided into several sub-factors that affect the maintainability. Under the ambiguous environment, various factors are considered when evaluating the maintainability of WSNs through AHP. The maintainability is determined by weighted sub-factors and main factors. Finally, by evaluating the maintainability of the WSNs, the proposed method can provide a guidance in the WSN design, manufacture, network deployment, and maintenance.