Multi-path multi-channel data aggregation scheduling in wireless sensor networks

In-network aggregation is employed to cut on redundancy and conserve the network resources. To meet the criticality and responsiveness goals, the aggregated data are to be disseminated to the base-station reliably while reducing the delivery latency. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed for Reliable Multi-channel Scheduling for timely dissemination of Aggregated data (RMSA). RMSA strives to form an aggregation tree such that there are k disjoint paths from each node to the base-station and finds a collision free schedule for node transmissions so that the aggregated data reaches the base-station in minimal time. RMSA is a cross-layer scheme that intertwines the formation of the multi-path structure and the assignment of transmission slots to the individual node with the objective of increasing the simultaneity of transmissions and reducing the buffering delay. The availability of multiple radio channels is further exploited in order to prevent colliding transmissions and boost the overall network throughput. RMSA is validated through simulation and is shown to outperform previously published schemes.