The pulse protocol: sensor network routing and power saving

We present a performance evaluation of the pulse protocol operating in a sensor network. In this work, a number of modifications are made to the original pulse protocol to provide efficient operation in a sensor network environment. The pulse protocol utilizes a periodic flood (the pulse) initiated by a single node (the pulse source) to provide both routing and synchronization to the network. This periodic pulse forms a pro-actively updated spanning tree rooted at the pulse source. Nodes communicate by forwarding packets through this tree. In addition, nodes are able to synchronize with the periodic pulse, allowing idle nodes to power off their radios a large percentage of the time when they are not required for packet forwarding. This results in substantial energy savings. A new mechanism called intermediate wake-up periods is introduced in this work in order to reduce the energy costs of low delay applications. Through simulation we explore the performance of both the protocol and the modifications with respect to energy efficiency and delay.