Scheduling Algorithms for Tree-Based Data Collection in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

AbstractData collection is a fundamental operation in wireless sensor networks (WSN) where sensor nodes measure attributes about a phenomenon of interest and transmit their readings to a common base station. In this chapter, we survey contention-free time division multiple access (TDMA)-based scheduling protocols for such data collection applications over tree-based routing topologies. We classify the algorithms according to their common design objectives, identifying the following four as the most fundamental and most studied with respect to data collection in WSNs: (i) minimizing schedule length, (ii) minimizing latency, (iii) minimizing energy consumption, and (iv) maximizing fairness. We also describe the pros and cons of the underlying design constraints and assumptions and provide a taxonomy according to these metrics. Finally, we discuss some open problems together with future research directions.KeywordsSensor NodeTime SlotSink NodeTime Division Multiple AccessVirtual NodeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.