Self-servicing energy efficient routing strategy for smart forest

Abstract

Monitoring the health and population of all forms of wildlife is a challenge for experts. Nature can be unforgiving with incidents of earthquakes, forest fires, tsunamis, and floods appearing without warning. The effects of industrialization take a toll on wildlife as well. As a result, many species of animals have reportedly gone extinct. The practice of installing wireless sensor networks in forests or in remote environments is not new. In this paper, we present a novel approach in deploying static and mobile sensors in forests. The sensors are distributed at random locations throughout a forest region to cover the maximum area possible. Data collected by these sensors is uploaded to cloud for further analysis. At the core of our model, we propose an energy-efficient algorithm by means of which individual sensors are able to transmit data over shortest path. In simulated experiments, results reveal that our method yields a stable packet delivery ratio. It is also observed to be more energy efficient compared to models that use cluster head selection in wireless sensor networks. Using this model, a region in a forest or wildlife habitat can be monitored for an extended period without compromis- ing network throughput.