Tunnel construction workers face many dangers while working under dark conditions, with difficult access and egress, and many potential hazards. To enhance safety at tunnel construction sites, low latency tracking of mobile objects (e.g., heavy-duty equipment) and construction workers is critical for managing the dangerous construction environment. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are the basis for a widely used technology for monitoring the environment because of their energy-efficiency and scalability. However, their use involves an inherent point-to-point delay caused by duty cycling mechanisms that can result in a significant rise in the delivery latency for tracking mobile objects. To overcome this issue, we proposed a mobility-aware adaptive duty cycling mechanism for the WSNs based on object mobility. For the evaluation, we tested this mechanism for mobile object tracking at a tunnel excavation site. The evaluation results showed that the proposed mechanism could track mobile objects with low latency while they were moving, and could reduce energy consumption by increasing sleep time while the objects were immobile.
Keywords: WSNs; adaptive duty cycle; mobility; tunnel excavation.