Survey on data routing in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Routing in sensor networks is very challenging, due to several characteristics that distinguish them from contemporary communication and wireless ad-hoc networks. Many new goal and data-oriented algorithms have been proposed for the problem of routing data in sensor networks. Most routing protocols can be classified as data-centric, hierarchical, location-based or QoS-aware. Data-centric protocols are query-based and depend on the naming of desired data. Hierarchical protocols aim at clustering the nodes so that cluster heads can do some aggregation and reduction of data in order to save energy. Location-based protocols utilize the position information to relay the data to the desired regions. The QoS-aware are based on general network-flow modeling for meeting some QoS requirements. In this chapter, we will explore goal and data-oriented routing mechanisms for sensor networks developed in recent years. Our aim is to help better understanding current routing protocols for wireless sensor networks and point out open issues that should be subject to further research. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.