Regulating the packet transmission cost of source location privacy routing schemes in event monitoring wireless networks

Abstract

Sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are usually battery-operated and resource-constrained. The sensor nodes are often deployed in remote areas where the batteries cannot easily be recharged or replaced. Consequently, power becomes a limited resource in WSNs. Thus, energy consumption of the sensor nodes is among parameters of paramount importance. Subsequently, source location privacy (SLP) routing schemes must be energy-efficient and overall cost-effective. Angle-based routing schemes can cost-effectively protect the SLP. The goal of this study is to propose a new path node offset angle routing algorithm to improve the packet transmission cost of two existing SLP routing schemes. The proposed algorithm considers path node offset angles, arbitrary factors, and contrived regions to compute relatively short but greatly randomized routing paths. The routes offer a reduced number of packet forwarding events in the near-sink region and eventually diminish the packet transmission cost. Performance analysis results verify that the proposed path node offset angle routing algorithm effectively improves the packet transmission cost of the schemes and guarantees strong SLP protection throughout the WSN domain. Furthermore, the routing algorithm is capable of alleviating the energy-hole problem.