A Routing strategy based on node movement in ZigBee networks

Abstract

In ZigBee specification, both the hierarchical tree routing and the table-driven routing algorithm are available in ZigBee networks. However, the routing selection method is not included in the standard. To choose the proper routing scheme in different conditions could achieve better performance. In this article, we analyzed the performance of the original routing methods. We used OPNET modeler to simulate the ZigBee networks. The simulation results showed the performances of different routing algorithms in the same condition. We analyzed the reasons and made a conclusion. We also find the critical boundary for the different routing method. Tree routing may have better performance when the nodes move less than 3 times on average in 100 seconds duration, the routing discovery method should be used when nodes move more than 4 times. According to that, we propose a routing strategy based on the node movement (BoNM) which has little more memory and calculation requirement for ZigBee networks. The result of simulation show the BoNM method is more efficient than traditional routing method in a network whose structure changes unpredictable.