Cross-Layer Optimized Data Gathering in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Using multimedia sensor nodes can enhance the capability of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for event description. In some scenarios, e.g., an erupting volcano, the WSNs are not deployed to work for long time. Instead, the WSNs aim to deliver continuous and reliable multimedia data as much as possible within an expected lifetime. In this paper, we focus on the efficient multimedia data gathering in WSNs within an expected lifetime. A distributed transmission radius and data generation rate adjustment (RRA) scheme is proposed based on a cross-layer design, considering the interaction among physical, network and transport layers. Simulation results show that the proposed RRA strategy can effectively enhance the data gathering performance in wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) by dynamically adjusting the transmission radius of sensor nodes and the data generation rate of source nodes.