An Adaptive Data Dissemination Strategy for Wireless Sensor Networks∗

∗An earlier version of this paper appeared in HWISE-2005, co-located with ICPADS 2005.

Abstract

Future large-scale sensor networks may comprise thousands of wirelessly connected sensor nodes that could provide an unimaginable opportunity to interact with physical phenomena in real time. However, the nodes are typically highly resource-constrained. Since the communication task is a significant power consumer, various attempts have been made to introduce energy-awareness at different levels within the communication stack. Clustering is one such attempt to control energy dissipation for sensor data dissemination in a multihop fashion. The Time-Controlled Clustering Algorithm (TCCA) is proposed to realize a network-wide energy reduction. A realistic energy dissipation model is derived probabilistically to quantify the sensor network's energy consumption using the proposed clustering algorithm. A discrete-event simulator is developed to verify the mathematical model and to further investigate TCCA in other scenarios. The simulator is also extended to include the rest of the communication stack to allow a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords:

• Data Dissemination
• Clustering
• Routing
• Energy-Efficiency
• Lifetime
• Simulation

Acknowledgement

This work was supported in part by grants from the ARC Discovery Project DP0664782 and USyd R&D L2844 U3230.

Notes

∗An earlier version of this paper appeared in HWISE-2005, co-located with ICPADS 2005.