Energy efficient routing in wireless sensor networks via circulating operator packets

Abstract

Routing protocols in wireless sensor networks are critical as they affect performance, lifetime and scaling. A novel approach to collect data in sensor networks is presented in this paper. The end-user can configure devices to operate for a desired lifetime and achieve reliable operation for that duration—this is the motivation behind the development of this protocol. In the proposed protocol, data routing is controlled by a special packet—the Operator Packet. The Operator Packet circulates through the network (a) allowing nodes to report data when they need to and (b) is circulated such that it preferentially uses nodes with more data and with higher residual battery levels. Time complexity analysis of the the heuristic approach presented in this paper for the circulation algorithm takes O(n) time. The algorithm creates an opportunistic routing condition—the nodes operate only if their battery levels permit. This leads to controllable lifetime, with average lifetimes achieved by the nodes being as high as 99% of the preconfigured targets. If nodes in the network are configured with similar target lifetimes, a highly synchronised network death is possible. Compared to the Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocol and Hybrid Energy Efficient Distributed clustering protocol (HEED), the proposed protocol achieves higher lifetimes (60 and 165% respectively) and improved Coefficient of Synchronous Death (17 and 102% respectively). A corrective method to achieve reduced data drops in deployments is also suggested and analysed.