Hitch hiker: a remote binding model with priority based data aggregation for wireless sensor networks

The aggregation of network traffic has been shown to enhance the performance of wireless sensor networks. By reducing the number of packets that are transmitted, energy consumption, collisions and congestion are minimised. However, current data aggregation schemes restrict developers to a specific network structure or cannot handle multi-hop data aggregation. In this paper, we propose Hitch Hiker, a remote component binding model that provides for multi-hop data aggregation. Hitch Hiker uses component meta-data to discover remote support component bindings and to construct a multi-hop overlay network within the free payload space of existing traffic flows. This overlay network provides end-to-end routing of low-priority traffic while using only a small fraction of the energy of standard communication. We have developed a prototype implementation of Hitch Hiker for the LooCI component model. Our evaluation shows that Hitch Hiker consumes minimal resources and that using Hitch Hiker to deliver low-priority traffic reduces energy consumption by up to 15%.