A Stackelberg Game Framework for Mobile Data Gathering in Leasing Residential Sensor Networks

This paper studies a data gathering problem in a wireless sensor network containing multiple private residual subnetworks. The interaction between the wireless sensor network operator and the owners of residual sub-networks is modeled by a Stackelberg game, which forms a novel framework for jointly analyzing the pricing, gathering data, and planning routes. It is shown that the game has a unique Stackelberg equilibrium at which the wireless sensor network operator sets prices to minimize total cost, while owners of residual sub-networks respond accordingly to maximize their utilities subject to their bandwidth constraints. An algorithm and theoretical analyses are provided for the corresponding strategies of the operator and owners, and validated by extensive simulations. It is demonstrated that the algorithm achieves lower network cost compared with existing data gathering strategies.