Near-Optimal Flow in wireless sensor networks

In this paper the Max-Flow (MF) problem is redefined to make its solution implementable in location-aware large-scale wireless networks, especially wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This restatement transforms MF problem to the multi-objective problem called Near-Optimal Flow (NOF) problem. In NOF problem, objectives are time and message overheads on one side, and flow value on the other side. Moreover, this paper provides a Lightweight Asynchronous Near-Optimal Algorithm (LANOFA) which relaxes MF limitations and finds NOF in the network. Simulation results show that applying introduced heuristics simultaneously, reduces around 65% of control messages, by sacrificing only 9% of flow value.