IFET COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(An autonomous institution)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
EC8702- AD HOC AND WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS
UNIT III – WSN NETWORKING CONCEPTS AND PROTOCOLS
SOLVED FOR APPLICATION QUESTIONS
PART A (2 MARKS)
3 When a node is receiving data, no other node in its neighbourhood, apart from the A
sender, should transmit. Justify.
When a node is receiving data, no other node in its neighbourhood, apart from the
sender, should transmit. Because, A node should get access to the shared medium only
when its transmissions do not affect any ongoing session. Since multiple nodes may
contend for the channel simultaneously, the possibility of packet collisions is quite high
in wireless networks. A MAC protocol should grant channel access to nodes in such a
manner that collisions are minimized.
4 In MAC Protocol Node A and B share Packets in short time means how will it reduce A
the transceiver complexity?
The mediation device protocol is compatible with the peer-to-peer communication mode
of the IEEE 802.15.4 low-rate WPAN standard. It allows each node in a WSN to go into
sleep mode periodically and to wake up only for short times to receive packets from
neighbour nodes. Upon each periodic wakeup, a node transmits a short query beacon,
indicating its node address and its willingness to accept packets from other nodes. If no
packet is received during this window, the node goes back into sleep mode.
When a node wants to transmit a packet to a neighbour, it has to synchronize with it. The
dynamic synchronization approach achieves this synchronization without requiring the
transmitter to be awake permanently to detect the destinations query beacon
6 Identify and discuss the protocol that can solve “idle listening problem” A
TDMA-based protocols offer an implicit solution to idle listening problem, since a node
having assigned time slot and exchanging (transmitting/receiving) data only during this
slot can safely switch off its transceiver in all other time slots. Since mode changes also
cost energy, their frequency should be kept at “reasonable” levels.
7 Power management is an important functionality in the MAC layer. Justify A
Usage of power cords restricts the mobility that wireless nodes can potentially offer. The
usage of battery-operated devices calls for power management because battery power is
expensive. Stations that are always ready to receive data consume more power (the
receiver current may be as high as 100 mA). The transceiver must be switched off
whenever carrier sensing is not needed. But this has to be done in a manner that is
transparent to the existing protocols. It is for this reason that power management is an
important functionality in the MAC layer.
8 Wired network routing protocols cannot be used in ad hoc wireless networks. Justify. A
Wired network routing protocols cannot be used in ad hoc wireless networks where the
mobility of nodes results in frequently changing network topologies. That is, due to the
dynamic topology and high mobility, the nodes change their topology based on the
requirement.Routing protocols for ad hoc wireless networks must be able to perform
efficient and effective mobility management.
9 If a sender wants to communicate with a sleeping station, explain the scenario. A
If a sender wants to communicate with a sleeping station, it has to buffer the data it
wishes to send. It will have to wait until the sleeping station wakes up, and then send the
data. Sleeping stations wake up periodically, when senders can announce the destinations
of their buffered data frames. If any node is a destination, then that node has to stay
awake until the corresponding transmission takes place.
11 Interpret the reason why there is no real hardware yet for an ultralow power wakeup A
 transceiver.
If the range of the wakeup radio is smaller than the range of the data radio, possibly not
all neighbor nodes can be woken up. On the other hand, if the range of the wakeup radio
is significantly larger, there can be a problem with local addressing schemes. These
schemes do not use globally or network wide-unique addresses but only locally unique
addresses, such that no node has two or more one-hop neighbors with the same address.
This is why there is no real hardware yet for an ultralow power wakeup transceiver.
13 Give a possible solution to eliminate Hidden terminal problem A
MACA protocol overcomes the hidden node problem. Neighbor nodes near the sender
that hear the RTS packet do not transmit for a long enough period of time so that the
sender could receive the CTS packet. Both the RTS and the CTS packets carry the
expected duration of the data packet transmission. A node near the receiver, upon hearing
the CTS packet, defers its transmission till the receiver receives the data packet. Thus,
14 In wake up radio concept, if a channel is busy what will be the result? A
If the channel is busy, the node makes another random channel choice and repeats the
carrier-sensing operation. After a certain number of unsuccessful trials, the node backs
off for a random time and starts again. If the channel is idle, the node sends a wakeup
signal to the intended receiver, indicating both the receiver identification and the channel
to use. The receiver wakes up its data transceiver, tunes to the indicated channel, and the
data packet transmission can proceed.
15 If a node transmits a long data packet (lengthy packets), what will happen? A
If the transmitting node is about to transmit a long data packet, it might be worthwhile to
prepend the data packet with a short filter packet announcing the receiving node’s
address. All the other nodes can go back to sleep mode after receiving the filter packet.
Instead of using an extra packet, all nodes can read the bits of the data packet until the
destination address appeared. If the packet’s address is not identical to its own address,
the node can go back into sleep mode.
17 SMAC do not need two different channels. Justify. A
It does not require two different channels. S-MAC adopts a periodic wakeup scheme,
that is, each node alternates between a fixed-length listen period and a fixed-length sleep
period according to its schedule, S-MAC attempts to coordinate the schedules of
neighboring nodes such that their listen periods start at the same time.
18 In Full duty cycle, the mediation device can receive the query beacons from all nodes A
in its vicinity and learn their wakeup periods. Suppose that node A wants to transmit a
packet to node B. Explain with Neat diagram?
Suppose that node A wants to transmit a packet to node B. Node A announces this to the
mediation device by sending periodically request to send (RTS) packets, which the MD
captures. Node A sends its RTS packets instead of its query beacons and thus they have
the same period. Again, there is a short answer window after the RTS packets, where A
listens for answers. After the MD has received A’s RTS packet, it waits for B’s next
query beacon. The MD answers this with a query response packet, indicating A’s address
and a timing offset, which lets B know when to send the answering clear to send (CTS)
to A such that the CTS packet hits the short answer window after A’s next RTS packet.
20 Give a possible solution to reduce the number of collisions in mediation device control A
protocol.
A possible solution to this is the following: When the MD registers collisions, it might
start to emit a dedicated reschedule control frame. All colliding nodes can hear this frame
as long as the MD repeats it often enough. Reception of this frame causes each node to
randomly pick a new period from a certain interval [a, b] indicated in the reschedule
frame. If the MD continues to perceive collisions, it can enlarge the interval accordingly.
21 Identify and discuss the protocol that is used in dynamic synchronization. A
The dynamic synchronization approach achieves this synchronization without requiring
the transmitter to be awake permanently to detect the destinations query beacon. MACA
overcomes the hidden node problem.To achieve this, a mediation device (MD) is used. It
allows each node in a WSN to go into sleep mode periodically and to wake up only for
short times to receive packets from neighbor nodes. Because of its full duty cycle, the
mediation device can receive the query beacons from all nodes in its vicinity and learn
their wakeup periods.
22 Contention-based protocols cannot provide QoS guarantees. Justify A
Contention-based protocols cannot provide QoS guarantees to sessions since nodes are
not guaranteed regular access to the channel. These protocols follow a contention-based
channel access policy. A node does not make any resource reservation a priori.
Whenever it receives a packet to be transmitted, it contends with its neighbour nodes for
access to the shared channel.
23 If a node decides to go into sleep mode when it need to wake up again? A
This decision is easy if a node x knows about the length of an ongoing
transmission, for example from overhearing the RTS or CTS packets or the header of the
data packets on the data channel. However, often this length is unknown to x, because
these packets are corrupted or a foreign data transmission cycle starts when x is just
sleeping. Additional procedures are needed to resolve this. since x may not have
overheard the RTS, CTS, or data packet header belonging to the ongoing transmission, it
runs a probing protocol on the control channel to inquire the length of the ongoing
packet.
24 Interpret the reason why contention-Based Protocols with Reservation Mechanisms A
cannot support real-time traffic.
Ad hoc wireless networks sometimes may need to support real-time traffic, which
requires QoS guarantees to be provided. In contention-based protocols, nodes are not
guaranteed periodic access to the channel. Hence they cannot support real-time traffic. In
order to support such traffic, certain protocols have mechanisms for reserving bandwidth
a priori. Such protocols can provide QoS support to time-sensitive traffic sessions.
29 Is there any special mechanisms are needed to avoid hidden-terminal situations? A
 Justify your answer.
In S-MAC, the RTS/CTS handshake is used to reduce collisions of data packets
due to hidden-terminal situations. Again, interested neighbors contend in this phase
according to a CSMA scheme with additional backoff. The RTS/CTS handshake as used
in IEEE 802.11 is based on the MACAW protocol. It uses only a single channel and two
special control packets.
30 The LEACH protocol is round based. Justify. A
All nodes make their decisions whether to become a clusterhead at the same time and the
non-clusterhead nodes have to associate to a clusterhead subsequently. The non-
clusterheads choose their clusterhead based on received signal strengths. The network
partitioning into clusters is time variable and the protocol assumes global time
synchronization. After the clusters have been formed, each clusterhead picks a random
CDMA code for its cluster, which it broadcasts and which its member nodes have to use
subsequently. Hence the LEACH protocol is round based.
31 If a fixed node has burn its energy quickly, and after it died, there is no signaling A
traffic, why?
If a fixed node has this role, it would burn its energy quickly, and after it died, all its
members would be “headless” and therefore useless. Therefore, this burden is rotated
among the nodes. Specifically, each node decides independent of other nodes whether it
becomes a clusterhead, and therefore there is no signaling traffic related to clusterhead
election (although signaling traffic is needed for subsequent association of nodes to some
clusterhead). This decision takes into account when the node served as clusterhead the
last time, such that a node that has not been a clusterhead for a long time is more likely to
elect itself than a node serving just recently
32 LEACH protocol could not able to cover a large geographical area. justify? A
LEACH would not be able to cover large geographical areas of some square miles or
more, because a clusterhead two miles away from the sink likely does not have enough
energy to reach the sink at all, not to mention achieving a low BER. If it can be arranged
that a clusterhead can use other clusterheads for forwarding, this limitation can be
mitigated. The cluster head is switched on during the whole round and the member nodes
have to be switched on during the setup phase and occasionally in the steady-state phase,
according to their position in the cluster’s TDMA schedule.
35 Reactive or on-demand routing protocols: need not maintain the network topology A
information. Conclude the statement.
Protocols that fall under this category do not maintain the network topology information.
They obtain the necessary path when it is required, by using a connection establishment
process. Hence these protocols do not exchange routing information periodically. Unlike
the table-driven routing protocols, on-demand routing protocols execute the path-
finding process and exchange routing information only when a path is required by a node
to communicate with a destination.
37 Declare the protocol that is used when a node wants to send during CAP. A
IEEE 802.15.4 MAC PROTOCOL is used when a node wants to send during
CAP. In the CAP, a device in the beaconed mode organizes channel access and data
transmission with the help of a superframe structure. All superframes have the same
length. The coordinator starts each superframe by sending a frame beacon packet. when
the device does not have any allocated slots, it sends its data packet during the CAP
using a slotted CSMA protocol, described below.
• The coordinator sends an immediate acknowledgment for the data packet.
• The other case is a data transfer from the coordinator to a device.

PART-B(16 MARKS)
3. Identify and explain the protocol that is used to achieve dynamic synchronisation in A
peer to peer communication.
 The mediation device protocol is compatible with the peer-to-peer
communication mode of the IEEE 802.15.4 low-rate WPAN standard. It allows each
node in a WSN to go into sleep mode periodically and to wake up only for short times
to receive packets from neighbor nodes. There is no global time reference, each node
has its own sleeping schedule, and does not take care of its neighbors sleep schedules.
Upon each periodic wakeup, a node transmits a short query beacon, indicating its node
address and its willingness to accept packets from other nodes. The node stays awake
for some short time following the query beacon, to open up a window for incoming
packets. If no packet is received during this window, the node goes back into sleep
mode.
When a node wants to transmit a packet to a neighbor, it has to synchronize with it.
One option would be to have the sender actively waiting for query beacon, but this
wastes considerable energy for synchronization purposes only. The dynamic
synchronization approach achieves this synchronization without requiring the
transmitter to be awake permanently to detect the destinations query beacon.
To achieve this, a mediation device (MD) is used. We first discuss the case
where the mediation device is not energy constrained and can be active all the time.
Because of its full duty cycle, the mediation device can receive the query beacons from
all nodes in its vicinity and learn their wakeup periods. Suppose that node A wants to
transmit a packet to node B. Node A announces this to the mediation device by sending
periodically request to send (RTS) packets, which the MD captures. Node A sends its
RTS packets instead of its query beacons and thus they have the same period. Again,
there is a short answer window after the RTS packets, where A listens for answers.
After the MD has received A’s RTS packet, it waits for B’s next query beacon. The
MD answers this with a query response packet, indicating A’s address and a timing
offset, which lets B know when to send the answering clear to send (CTS) to A such
that the CTS packet hits the short answer window after A’s next RTS packet.

Mediation device protocol with unconstrained mediators

Therefore, B has learned A’s period. After A has received the CTS packet, it
can send its data packet and wait for B’s immediate acknowledgment. After the
 transaction has finished, A restores its periodic wakeup cycle and starts to emit query
beacons again. Node B also restores its own periodic cycle and thus decouples from
A’s period.
Advantages:
• It does not require any time synchronization between the nodes, only the
mediation device has to learn the periods of the nodes.
• The protocol is asymmetric in the sense that most of the energy burden is
shifted to the mediation device, which so far is assumed to be power
unconstrained.
• The other nodes can be in the sleep state most of the time and have to spend
energy only for the periodic beacons. Even when a transmitter wants to
synchronize with the receiver, it does not have to wait actively for the query
beacon, but can go back to sleep and wait for the mediation device to do the
synchronization work. This way very low duty cycles can be supported.
Drawbacks:
• The nodes transmit their query beacons without checking for ongoing
transmissions and, thus, the beacons of different nodes may collide repeatedly
when nodes have the same period and their wakeup periods overlap.
• If the wakeup periods are properly randomized and the node density is
sufficiently low, this collision probability can be low too.
• However, in case of higher node densities or unwanted synchronization
between the nodes, the number of collisions can be significant.
6. (i)Choose an alternate for CSMA protocol for packet transmission and justify in A
what way it is better than CSMA protocol. (8)
The MACA protocol was proposed as an alternative to the traditional carrier
sense multiple Access (CSMA) protocols used in wired networks. In CSMA protocols,
the sender first senses the channel for the carrier signal. If the carrier is present, it
retries after a random period of time. Otherwise, it transmits the packet. CSMA senses
the state of the channel only at the transmitter. This protocol does not overcome the
hidden terminal problem. In a typical ad hoc wireless network, the transmitter and
receiver may not be near each other at all times. In such situations, the packets
transmitted by a node are prone to collisions at the receiver due to simultaneous
transmissions by the hidden terminals. Also, the bandwidth utilization in CSMA
protocols is less because of the exposed terminal problem. MACA does not make use
of carrier-sensing for channel access. It uses two additional signalling packets: the
request-to-send (RTS) packet and the clear-to-send (CTS) packet. When a node wants
to transmit a data packet, it first transmits an RTS packet. The receiver node, on
receiving the RTS packet, if it is ready to receive the data packet, transmits a CTS
packet. Once the sender receives the CTS packet without any error, it starts
transmitting the data packet. This data transmission mechanism is depicted in Figure
shown below.
If a packet transmitted by a node is lost, the node uses the binary exponential
back-off (BEB) algorithm to back off for a random interval of time before retrying. In
the binary exponential backoff mechanism, each time a collision is detected, the node
doubles its maximum back-off window. Neighbor nodes near the sender that hear the
RTS packet do not transmit for a long enough period of time so that the sender could
receive the CTS packet. Both the RTS and the CTS packets carry the expected duration
of the data packet transmission. A node near the receiver, upon hearing the CTS packet,
defers its transmission till the receiver receives the data packet. Thus, MACA
overcomes the hidden node problem. Similarly, a node receiving an RTS defers only
for a short period of time till the sender could receive the CTS. If no CTS is heard by
the node during its waiting period, it is free to transmit packets once the waiting
interval is over. Thus, a node that hears only the RTS packet is free to transmit
simultaneously when the sender of the RTS is transmitting data packets. Hence, the
exposed terminal problem is also overcome in MACA. But MACA still has certain
problems, which was why MACAW, described below, was proposed.

Packet transmission in MACA Protocol

In MACA, an exposed node (which received only the RTS and not the CTS packet) is
free to transmit simultaneously when the source node is transmitting packets. For
example, in figure 3.8(b), When a transmission is going on between nodes S1 and R1,
node S2 is free to transmit. RTS transmissions by node S2 are of no use, as it can
proceed further only if it can receive a CTS from R2. But this is not possible as CTS
packets from R2 get collided at node S2 with packets transmitted by node S1. As a
result, the back-off counter at node S2 builds up unnecessarily. So an exposed node
should not be allowed to transmit. But an exposed node, since it can hear only the RTS
sent by the source node and not the CTS sent by the receiver, does not know for sure
whether the RTS-CTS exchange was successful. To overcome this problem, MACAW
uses another small (30-bytes) control packet called the data-sending (DS) packet.
Before transmitting the actual data packet, the source node transmits this DS packet

.
Example topology

(ii) Justify the statement” deployment considerations are more important in

designing a Adhoc wireless network”. (8)
The deployment of ad hoc wireless networks involves actions different from those of
wired networks. It requires a good amount of planning and estimation of future traffic
growth over any link in the network. The time-consuming planning stage is followed
by the actual deployment of the network. The cost and time required for laying copper
cables or fiber cables make it difficult to reconfigure any partial deployment that has
already been done. The deployment of a commercial ad hoc wireless network has the
following benefits when compared to wired networks:
• Low cost of deployment:
The use of multi-hop wireless relaying essentially eliminates the requirement of laying
cables and maintenance in a commercial deployment of communication infrastructure.
Hence the cost involved is much lower than that of wired networks.
• Incremental deployment:
In commercial wireless WANs based on ad hoc wireless networks, deployment can be
performed incrementally over geographical regions of the city. The deployed part of
the network starts functioning immediately after the minimum configuration is done.
For example, during the deployment process for covering a highway, whenever each
radio relaying equipment is installed on the highway side, it can be commissioned.
• Short deployment time:
Compared to wired networks, the deployment time is considerably less due to the
absence of any wired links. Also, wiring a dense urban region is extremely difficult and
time-consuming in addition to the inconvenience caused.
• Reconfigurability:
The cost involved in reconfiguring a wired network covering a metropolitan area
network (MAN) is very high compared to that of an ad hoc wireless network covering
the same service area. Also, the incremental deployment of ad hoc wireless networks
might demand changes in the topology of the fixed part (e.g., the relaying devices fixed
on lamp posts or rooftops) of the network at a later stage.
Scenario of deployment:
The scenario of deployment assumes significance because the capability required for a
mobile node varies with the environment in which it is used. The capabilities required
for the mobile nodes that form an ad hoc wireless network among a fleet of ships are
not the same as those required for forming an ad hoc wireless network among a set of
notebook computers at a conference. The following are some of the different scenarios
in which the deployment issues vary widely.
– Military deployment:
The military deployment of an ad hoc wireless network may be datacentric (e.g., a
wireless sensor network) or user-centric (e.g., soldiers or armored vehicles carrying
soldiers equipped with wireless communication devices). The data-centric networks
handle a different pattern of data traffic and can be partially comprised of static nodes,
whereas the user-centric network consists of highly mobile nodes with or without any
support from any infrastructure (e.g., military satellite constellations). The vehicle-
mounted nodes have at their disposal better power sources and computational
resources, whereas the hand-held devices are constrained by energy and computational
resources. Thus the resource availability demands appropriate changes in the protocols
employed. Also, the military environment requires secure communication. Routing
should involve as few nodes as possible to avoid possible leakage of information. Flat
addressing schemes are preferred to hierarchical addressing since the latter addressing
requires paths to be set up through the hierarchy, and hence the chances of unreliable
nodes forwarding the packets are high.
Emergency operations deployment:
This kind of application scenario demands a quick deployment of rescue personnel
equipped with hand-held communication equipment. Essentially, the network should
provide support for time-sensitive traffic such as voice and video. Short data messaging
can be used in case the resource constraints do not permit voice communication. Also
in this scenario, a flat fixed addressing scheme with a static configuration is preferred.
Typically, the size of the network for such applications is not more than 100 nodes.
The nodes are fully mobile without expecting support from any fixed infrastructure.
Commercial wide-area deployment:
One example of this deployment scenario is the wireless mesh networks. The aim of
the deployment is to provide an alternate communication infrastructure for wireless
communication in urban areas and areas where a traditional cellular base station cannot
handle the traffic volume. This scenario assumes significance as it provides very low
cost per bit transferred compared to the wide-area cellular network infrastructure.
Another major advantage of this application is the resilience to failure of a certain
number of nodes. Addressing, configuration, positioning of relaying nodes, redundancy
of nodes, and power sources are the major issues in deployment. Billing, provisioning
of QoS, security, and handling mobility are major issues that the service providers need
to address.
Home network deployment:
The deployment of a home area network needs to consider the limited range of the
devices that are to be connected by the network. Given the short transmission ranges of
a few meters, it is essential to avoid network partitions. Positioning of relay nodes at
certain key locations of a home area network can solve this. Also, network topology
should be decided so that every node is connected through multiple neighbors for
availability.
Required longevity of network:
The deployment of ad hoc wireless networks should also consider the required
longevity of the network. If the network is required for a short while (e.g., the
connectivity among a set of researchers at a conference and the connectivity required
for coordination of a crowd control team), battery-powered mobile nodes can be used.
When the connectivity is required for a longer duration of time, fixed radio relaying
equipment with regenerative power sources can be deployed. A wireless mesh network
with roof-top antennas deployed at a residential zone requires weather-proof packages
so that the internal circuitry remains unaffected by the environmental conditions. In
such an environment, the mesh connectivity is planned in such a way that the harsh
atmospheric factors do not create network partitions.
Area of coverage:
In most cases, the area of coverage of an ad hoc wireless network is determined by the
nature of application for which the network is set up. For example, the home area
network is limited to the surroundings of a home. The mobile nodes' capabilities such
as the transmission range and associated hardware, software, and power source should
match the area of coverage required. In some cases where some nodes can be fixed and
the network topology is partially or fully fixed, the coverage can be enhanced by means
of directional antennas.
Service availability:
The availability of network service is defined as the ability of an ad hoc
wireless network to provide service even with the failure of certain nodes. Availability
assumes significance both in a fully mobile ad hoc wireless network used for tactical
communication and in partially fixed ad hoc wireless networks used in commercial
communication infrastructure such as wireless mesh networks. In the case of wireless
mesh networks, the fixed nodes need to be placed in such a way that the failure of
multiple nodes does not lead to lack of service in that area. In such cases, redundant
inactive radio relaying devices can be placed in such a way that on the event of failure
of an active relaying node, the redundant relaying device can take over its
responsibilities. Operational integration with other infrastructure:
Operational integration of ad hoc wireless networks with other infrastructures can be
considered for improving the performance or gathering additional information, or for
providing better QoS. In the military environment, integration of ad hoc wireless
networks with satellite networks or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) improves the
capability of the ad hoc wireless networks. Several routing protocols assume the
availability of the global positioning system (GPS), which is a satellite-based
infrastructure by which the geographical location information can be obtained as a
resource for network synchronization and geographical positioning. In the commercial
world, the wireless mesh networks that service a given urban region can interoperate
with the wide-area cellular infrastructure in order to provide better QoS and smooth
 handoffs across the networks. Handoff to a different network can be done in order to
avoid call drops when a mobile node with an active call moves into a region where
service is not provided by the current network.
8 Consider a scenario for a communication between nodes A and H including link A
energy costs and available battery capacity per node. What qualifies as a good cost
metric in general is, however, anything but clear and depends on the precise
intention of energy-efficient unicast routing is happen, Justify?

In the example figure given above, the minimum energy route is A-B-E-H,
requiring 3 units of energy. The minimum hop count route would be A-D-H, requiring
6 units of energy. At a first glance, energy-efficient unicast routing appears to be a
simple problem: take the network graph, assign to each link a cost value that reflects
the energy consumption across this link, and pick any algorithm that computes least-
cost paths in a graph. The energy efficiency of a node is defined as the ratio of the
amount of data delivered by the node to the total energy expended. Higher energy
efficiency implies that a greater number of packets can be transmitted by the node with
a given amount of energy reserve. There are various aspects how energy or power
efficiency can be conceived of in a routing context.
Minimize energy per packet (or per bit)
The most straightforward formulation is to look at the total energy required to
transport a packet over a multihop path from source to destination (including all
overheads). The goal is then to minimize, for each packet, this total amount of energy
by selecting a good route. Minimizing the hop count will typically not achieve this goal
as routes with few hops might include hops with large transmission power to cover
large distances. But be aware of distance-independent, constant offsets in the energy-
consumption model. Nonetheless, this cost metric can be easily included in standard
routing algorithms. It can lead to widely differing energy consumption on different
nodes.

Maximize network lifetime

A WSN’s task is not to transport data, but to observe (and possibly control).
Hence, energy-efficient transmission is at best a means to an end and the actual end
should be the optimization goal: the network should be able to fulfill its duty for as
long as possible. Which event to use to demarcate the end of a network’s lifetime is,
however, not clear either.
Several options exist: Time until the first node fails.
• Time until there is a spot that is not covered by the network (loss of coverage, a
useful metric only for redundantly deployed networks).
• Time until network partition (when there are two nodes that can no longer
communicate with each other)
While these aspects are related, they require different solutions.
Routing considering available battery energy
While maximizing the network lifetime is clearly a useful goal, it is not
immediately obvious how to reach this goal using observable parameters of an actual
network. As the finite energy supply in nodes’ batteries is the limiting factor to
network lifetime, it stands to reason to use information about battery status in routing
decisions. Some of the possibilities are:
Maximum Total Available Battery Capacity
Choose that route where the sum of the available battery capacity is maximized,
without taking needless detours (called, slightly incorrectly, “maximum available
power. Looking only at the intermediate nodes route A-B-E-G-H has a total available
capacity of 6 units, but that is only because of the extra node G that is not really needed
– such detours can of course arbitrarily increase this metric. Hence, A-B- E-G-H should
be discarded as it contains A-B-E-H as a proper subset. Eventually, route A-C-F-H is
selected.
Minimum Battery Cost Routing (MBCR)
Instead of looking directly at the sum of available battery capacities along a
given path, MBCR instead looks at the “reluctance” of a node to route traffic. This
reluctance increases as its battery is drained; for example, reluctance or routing cost
can be measured as the reciprocal of the battery capacity. Then, the cost of a path is the
sum of this reciprocals and the rule is to pick that path with the smallest cost. Since the
reciprocal function assigns high costs to nodes with low battery capacity, this will
automatically shift traffic away from routes
with nodes about to run out of energy.
Min–Max Battery Cost Routing (MMBCR)
This scheme follows a similar intention, to protect nodes with low energy battery
resources. Instead of using the sum of reciprocal battery levels, simply the largest
reciprocal level of all nodes along a path is used as the cost for this path. Then, again
the path with the smallest cost is used. In this sense, the optimal path is chosen by
minimizing over a maximum. The same effect is achieved by using the smallest battery
level along a path and then maximizing over these path values. This is then a
maximum/minimum formulation of the problem.
Conditional Max–Min Battery Capacity Routing (CMMBCR)
Another option is to conditionalize upon the actual battery power levels available.
If there are routes along which all nodes have a battery level exceeding a given
threshold, then select the route that requires the lowest energy per bit. If there is no
such route, then pick that route which maximizes the minimum battery level.
Minimize variance in power levels
To ensure a long network lifetime, one strategy is to use up all the batteries
uniformly to avoid some nodes prematurely running out of energy and disrupting the
network.3 Hence, routes should be chosen such that the variance in battery levels
between different routes is reduced.
Minimum Total Transmission Power Routing (MTPR)
Without actually considering routing at the situation of several nodes
transmitting directly to their destination, mutually causing interference with each other.
A given transmission is successful if its SINR exceeds a given threshold. The goal is to
find an assignment of transmission power values for each transmitter (given the
channel attenuation metric) such that all transmissions are successful and that the sum
of all power values is minimized.