A Load Balance Data Storage Method Based on Ring for Sensor Networks

Abstract

The traditional data centric storage method has a serious problem named hotspot problem, which appears near the sink and home node. Hotspot problem causes the nodes near the hotspot consume much more energy than other nodes, which seriously shortens the lifetime of the sensor networks. In this paper, a method distributing multiple sink nodes around the sensor networks is proposed to solve the hotspot problem around the sink. A load balance data storage method based on ring and a query processing algorithm for such a kind of data storage method are proposed to solve the hotspot problem around the home node. First, the ring based load balance data storage method divides the sensor networks into a lot of rings and stores data among all nodes within a ring. Second, different rings alternatively work during the working time of the network, which avoids the hotspot problem further. Finally, the query processing algorithm based on the load balance data storage method makes all nodes within a ring cooperatively answer the user’s query. Although the ring based load balance data storage method and the query processing algorithm consume more energy than the traditional method when answering a user’s query, the method makes all nodes within the network consume energy evenly, which avoids the hotspot problem of the traditional method, so the lifetime of sensor networks can be extended. Experimental results also show that the ring based load balance data storage method and the query processing algorithm can solve the hotspot problem and prolong the lifetime of the sensor networks.