Supporting proactive application event notification to improve sensor network performance

Abstract

As wireless sensor networks gain in popularity, many deployments are posing new challenges due to their diverse topologies and resource constraints. Previous work has shown the advantage of adapting protocols based on current network conditions (e.g., link status, neighbor status), in order to provide the best service in data transport. Protocols can similarly benefit from adaptation based on current application conditions. In particular, if proactively informed of the status of active queries in the network, protocols can adjust their behavior accordingly. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to provide such proactive application event notification to all interested protocols in the stack. Specifically, we use the existing interfaces and event signaling structure provided by the X-Lisa (Cross-layer Information Sharing Architecture) protocol architecture, augmenting this architecture with a Middleware Interpreter for managing application queries and performing event notification. Using this approach, we observe gains in Quality of Service of up to 40% in packet delivery ratios and a 75% decrease in packet delivery delay for the tested scenario. © 2010 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.