A Benchmarking Algorithm to Determine Maximum Stability Data Gathering Trees for Wireless Mobile Sensor Networks

The high-level contribution of this paper is the design of a benchmarking algorithm to determine a sequence of the longest-living stable data gathering trees for wireless mobile sensor networks (MSNs) such that the number of tree discoveries is the theoretical global minimum. Referred to as the Max. Stability-DG algorithm, the algorithm assumes the availability of the complete knowledge of future topology changes, and operates according to a greedy strategy: Whenever a new data gathering tree is needed at time instant t, determine a spanning tree that will exist for the longest time since t and derive a data gathering tree by conducting a Breadth First Search on the spanning tree. We prove the correctness of the Max. Stability-DG algorithm that it indeed determines the sequence of longest living stable data gathering trees. Since the Max. Stability-DG trees are based on spanning trees covering the entire network of live sensor nodes, the average lifetime and the number of tree discoveries incurred for the Max. Stability-DG trees will serve respectively as the upper bound and lower bound for any network-wide communication topology determined using any other algorithm for mobile sensor networks.