Abstract
We consider the problem of reliability modeling and analysis of hierarchical clustered wireless sensor networks (WSN) in this paper. We propose reliability measures that integrate the conventional connectivity-based network reliability with the sensing coverage measure indicating the Quality of Service (QoS) of the WSN. And we propose a progressive approach for evaluating such coverage-oriented QoS reliability. Our approach is unique in that we analyze a more practical and generic hierarchical clustered WSN. The novelty of our approach also includes the consideration of dynamic dependencies, such as the standby spare behavior, by proposing a modular scheme.