An analysis of strategies for mitigating the sensor network hot spot problem

In multi-hop wireless sensor networks that are characterized by many-to-one (converge-east) traffic patterns, problems related to energy imbalance among sensors often appear. When the transmission range is fixed for nodes throughout the network, the amount of traffic that sensors are required to forward increases dramatically as the distance to the data sink becomes smaller. Thus, sensors closest to the data sink tend to die early. Network lifetime can be improved to a limited extent by the use of a more intelligent transmission power control policy that balances the energy used in each node by requiring nodes further from the data sink to transmit over longer distances (although not directly to the data sink). Alternatively, policies such as data aggregation allow the network to operate in a more energy efficient manner. Since the deployment of an aggregator node may be significantly more expensive than the deployment of an ordinary microsensor node, there is a cost tradeoff involved in this approach. This paper provides an analysis of these policies for mitigating the sensor network hot spot problem, considering energy efficiency as well as cost efficiency.