Controlled Sink Mobility Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks

Metin Koç,Ibrahim Korpeoglu

doi:10.1155/2014/167508

Abstract

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of hundreds or thousands of sensor nodes organized in an ad hoc manner to achieve a predefined goal. Although WSNs have limitations in terms of memory and processors, the main constraint that makes WSNs different from traditional networks is the battery problem which limits the lifetime of a network. Different approaches are proposed in the literature for improving the network lifetime, including data aggregation, energy efficient routing schemes, and MAC protocols. Sink node mobility is also an effective approach for improving the network lifetime. In this paper, we investigate controlled sink node mobility and present a set of algorithms for deciding where and when to move a sink node to improve network lifetime. Moreover, we give a load-balanced topology construction algorithm as another component of our solution. We did extensive simulation experiments to evaluate the performance of the components of our mobility scheme and to compare our solution with static case and random movement strategy. The results show that our algorithms are effective in improving network lifetime and provide significantly better lifetime compared to static sink case and random movement strategy.

Highlights

The emergence of tiny sensor nodes as a result of advances in microelectromechanical systems has enabled wireless sensor networks (WSNs)
We present the results of the experiments that evaluate the performance of the algorithms presented in the previous part
Simulations are done to observe the performance of the sink-site determination algorithms, movement criteria, and the topology reconstruction algorithm

Summary

Introduction

The emergence of tiny sensor nodes as a result of advances in microelectromechanical systems has enabled wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Since most of the time a tree topology rooted at the sink is used to collect data, all packets are delivered to the sink node via its first-hop neighbors. As seen, this situation causes these nodes to deplete their energy faster than the other nodes in the network. A node that was a neighbor of the sink in a round and had a large packet load should have a smaller packet load in the round This way the neighbor role is delegated fairly among all sensor nodes. On the average all nodes would have a nearly equal cumulative packet load and remaining energy levels at an arbitrary time

Objectives

Results

Conclusion