A model driven data gathering algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

by Kunnamkumarath, Dhinu Johnson

Wireless sensor networks are characterized by severe energy constraints, one to many

flows and low rate redundant data. Most of the routing algorithms for traditional networks

are address centric, and the ad hoc nature of wireless sensor network makes them unsuitable

for practical applications. Also the algorithms designed for mobile ad hoc networks are

unsuitable for wireless sensor networks due to severe energy constraints that require nodes to

perform for months with limited resources, as well as the low data rate which the constraint

implies.

This thesis examines a model driven data gathering algorithm framework for wireless

sensor networks. It was designed with a goal to decrease the overall cost in transmission

by lowering the number of messages transmitted in the network. A combination of data-

centric and address-centric approaches was used as guidelines during the design process. A

shortest path heuristic where intermediate nodes forward interest messages whenever it is

of lower cost is one of the heuristics used. Another heuristic used is the greedy incremental

approach to build a lower cost tree from a graph with various producers and consumers. A

cost division heuristic is used to divide cost of shared path into distinct paths as the path

forks in a tree.

This thesis analyzes the effects of these heuristics on the performance of the algorithm

and how it lowers the overall cost with the addition of each heuristic.