Broadcast scheduling in battery-free wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Battery-Free Wireless Sensor Networks (BF-WSNs) are newly emerging Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to break through the energy limitations of traditionalWSNs. In BF-WSNs, the broadcast scheduling problem is more challenging than that in traditionalWSNs. This article investigates the broadcast scheduling problem in BF-WSNs with the purpose of minimizing broadcast latency. The Minimum-Latency Broadcast Scheduling problem in BF-WSNs (MLBS-BF) is formally defined and its NP-hardness is proved. Three approximation algorithms for solving the MLBS-BF problem are proposed. The broadcast latency of the broadcast schedules produced by the proposed algorithms is analyzed. The correctness and approximation ratio of the proposed algorithms are also proved. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate the performances of the proposed algorithms. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms have high performance.