Protocols and model for sink mobility in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

This paper concerns the definition of an analytical model and of a distributed protocol, termed Greedy Maximum Residual Energy (GMRE), for determining the routes of a mobile data collector (sink) traveling through the nodes of a wireless sensor network (WSN). The routes are determined with the overall aim of maximizing the network lifetime. An ns2-based simulation comparison between GMRE, optical static sink placement and random sink mobility shows that GMRE yields remarkable improvements both for network lifetime and for balancing energy consumptions throughout the network.