Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Due to dynamic topology, resource constraints and the distributed nature of WSNs, several requirements of routing protocols needs to be fulfilled. Wireless sensor networks comprise of huge number of spatially distributed, low-power, low-cost and intelligent autonomous sensors with one or more base stations which cooperatively monitor environment or physical conditions such as pressure, temperature, sound or motion. Efficiency of any routing protocol is governed by two main factors that is network lifetime and energy conservation. Another challenging issue in WSNs is the QoS support and therefore QoS aware routing protocol have gained much attention in the recent few years. In this article we first discuss several challenging factors and issues that affects the WSNs routing protocol design. In this paper we categorize various routing protocols in WSNs into three major categories namely the flat networks routing protocols, the hierarchical networks routing protocols and the QoS aware routing protocols. The article explores the flat networks routing protocols as Re-active, Pro-active and Hybrid Protocols and hierarchical networks routing protocols as chain-based, grid-based, tree-based and area-based protocols. The article also discusses the various types of QoS routing protocols in WSNs. Finally we present certain open issues regarding the design of routing protocols in WSNs.