Method for reporting and accumulating data in a wireless communication network

A method for forming a wireless sensor network, comprising:

• providing a plurality of nodes at a location, at least two of the nodes being adapted and positioned relative to each other to form a wireless sensor network;
• beaconing, from a first one of the nodes, a signal that represents that the first node is not associated with a wireless sensor network and that the first node is adapted to function as a parent node;
• associating a second one of the nodes with the first node such that the second node is a child of the first node and the first node is a parent of the second node, thereby forming, at least in part, a wireless sensor network;
• associating a third node that is capable of functioning as a cluster head with the wireless sensor network, the third node being associated as a child of an association node in the wireless sensor network;
• and
• commanding the association node to function as a child of the third node such that the third node functions as a parent to the association node.

A wireless sensor network comprising:

• a cluster head;
• a shadow cluster head;
• and
• a plurality of nodes in communication with the cluster head and the shadow cluster head, the plurality of nodes including at least one router or at least one edge node;
• wherein the cluster head and the shadow cluster head are adapted to receive communications from a same set of nodes, the cluster head and the shadow cluster head using different multipath profiles to communicate with nodes in radio range such that the shadow cluster head provides a redundant link from the set of nodes to the cluster head.

A wireless sensor network comprising:

• a data accumulator;
• and
• a plurality of nodes in communication with the cluster head, the plurality of nodes including at least one router or at least one edge node that provide sensor data to the data accumulator;
• wherein the data accumulator is adapted to communicate wirelessly with a mobile device to transmit the sensor data to the mobile device.

A method for forming a wireless sensor network, comprising:

• providing a plurality of routers at a location, the routers being configured and arranged to form a wireless sensor network in which routers have a hierarchical parent/child relationship;
• and
• providing a gateway in communication with the wireless sensor network, wherein the gateway is adapted to send and receive signals for the wireless sensor network to at least one device outside of the wireless sensor network;
• wherein routers in the wireless sensor network each have a hop count that indicates a number of routers through which communications from the router pass to the gateway, and wherein routers with a lower hop count have a larger battery capacity than routers with a higher hop count.