Connectivity-based Cross-Layer Opportunistic Forwarding for MWSNs

ABSTRACT

Mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSNs) consist of many sensor nodes that are randomly distributed in the environment to gather information. In MWSNs, the transmission path is affected due to node mobility and node failures. Routing protocols in MWSNs must adjust to topology changes and should determine the path with minimum overheads. Some of the existing works on the opportunistic routing minimize the energy consumption, but have large overheads and duplicate packet transmissions. In this paper, we have designed and implemented a connectivity-based cross-layer opportunistic forwarding protocol for mobile wireless sensor networks. We estimate the expected energy consumption cost for forwarding the data using prioritized forwarder list and node's connectivity metric. Connectivity metric signifies the ability of node to partition the network on its failure. To reduce retransmissions, we implement forwarding agreement mechanism among the nodes in the forwarder list, if the desired relay node has moved or failed. Our analysis shows that our protocol consumes less energy compared to conventional routing protocols. Simulation results for our protocol are compared with Energy Efficient Opportunistic Routing (EEOR), Destination Sequenced Distance Vector and ad hoc on-demand multipath distance vector protocol for energy efficiency, overheads, and packet loss. Our protocol exhibits 22% improvement in energy consumption compared to energy efficient opportunistic routing (EEOR) and also significant improvements for other performance parameters.

Keywords:

• Cross-layer
• Forwarding agreement
• MWSNs
• Network connectivity
• Opportunistic routing

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported through a research grant from Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission (RGSTC), Government of Maharashtra, India for research project to establish a system for monitoring air quality for vehicular pollutant using wireless sensor networks. The authors are thankful for the support extended by RGSTC, Government of Maharashtra.

Notes on contributors

Mandar Subhash Karyakarte

Mr Karyakarte Mandar Subhash is pursuing PhD degree from Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab, India. He has completed his master's degree in computer engineering in the year 2007 and bachelor's degree in computer engineering in the year 2003.

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Anil Srinivas Tavildar

Anil S Tavildar is working as Professor Emeritus in electronics and telecommunication engineering at Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology, Pune, India. He has obtained his BE (Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering) from University of Pune and PhD (Communication Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1984. He has 28 years of industrial, research and development experience and 12 years of teaching experience. His research interests are in signal processing, wireless, and mobile communication systems. He is Senior Member, IEEE USA, Fellow Member of IETE, India, Founder Member ICIET, and Life Member of ISTE, India.

E-mail: [email protected]

Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna is working as professor in electronics and communication engineering department, Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab, India. He has obtained his BSc (Electronics and Communication Engineering) from National Institute of Technology (formerly Regional Engineering College) Kurukshetra in 1988. He has completed master's degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1998 and PhD degree from Thapar University in 2006. He has professional experience of 10 years and teaching experience of 12 years. His research interests include wireless and mobile communication, antenna design, handover issues in heterogeneous networks, and fractional Fourier transform based communication systems.

E-mail: [email protected]