Energy efficiency and load balancing are known to be critical design concerns in routing protocols in wireless sensor networks. We can achieve the first concern by finding the minimum energy path, while the latter, can be achieved by using multiple sub-optimal paths. In this paper, and for this purpose, we propose a routing protocol that exploits interaction between the MAC layer and the network layer. Our proposal is a simple cross-layer routing protocol that enhances the wireless sensor network lifetime by balancing the energy consumption in the forwarding task. To do so, the MAC layer informs the network layer about all the overheard communications of the neighboring nodes. According to this information, and in order to balance the energy consumption of the forwarding nodes, a node chooses its next hop among the less-used ones. Hence, the choice of the next hop is, contrary to existing multi-path routing protocols, not probabilistic and leads to better energy consumption balancing. We have used a mathematical model and simulations to evaluate the performance of our proposal. The final results have shown that our cross-layer routing protocol uses all forwarding nodes in an equitable manner compared to other routing protocols. This enables to avoid the network partitioning and to enhance the network lifetime.
As sensor networks are battery powered and it is uneasy to recharge, the primary goal in this field is to reduce energy consumption and enhance network lifetime. To achieve this objective we must reduce the energy consumption during the routing functionality and use sensor nodes in an equitable manner. The aim of this paper is to propose a new protocol for multi-path routing in which nodes choose one route among several routes with a probability which will counts the residual energy, the energy of the communication and the number of paths including the forwarding node. Our approach allows the sensor nodes of the network wasting their energy in an equitable manner in order to enhance the lifetime of the sensor network. This is proved by simulation on SENSIM. We have implemented our solution and compared it with EAR and FEAR, results show that our protocol outperforms EAR and FEAR by enhancing the network lifetime.
Abstract-As sensor nodes are subject to strict power limitations and often deployed in harsh environments, there is significant potential for a node to be hidden from another node. The impact of hidden nodes on performance of the IEEE 802.15.4 Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network protocol is evaluated. At lower Tx power, as a result of hidden nodes, there are more collisions in the network increasing the cost of packet delivery. The simulation results indicate that there exists an optimum transmission power that minimizes the impact of hidden nodes, and it depends on factors such as network load, desired throughput and beacon order. Results indicate that additional throughput gain and lower cost per packet delivered can be achieved by increasing the beacon order at higher Tx power.
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