WCDS-induced routing for data-aggregation in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are often deployed in harsh environments with little human control, thereby necessitating self organizing and maintenance mechanisms for medium sharing and data routing. Moreover, since sensor nodes operate on energy-limited batteries, designing energy-efficient routing techniques that extend the network lifetime is of a paramount importance. In this paper, we propose WCDS-DCR, a fully distributed, data-centric, routing technique that makes use of an underlying clustering structure induced by the construction of WCDS (Weakly Connected Dominating Set) to prolong network lifetime. WCDS-DCR aims at extending network lifetime through the use of data aggregation (based on the elimination of redundant data packets) by some particular nodes. It also utilizes both the energy availability information and the distances (in number of hops) from sensors to the sink in order to make hop-by-hop, energy-aware, routing decisions. Simulation results show that our solution is scalable, and outperforms existing schemes in terms of network lifetime.