Reliable and real-time data gathering in multi-hop linear wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Data gathering is a critical operation in wireless sensor networks for extracting useful information from the operating environment. In this paper, we study the problem of data gathering in multi-hop linear sensor networks. We employ a simple model based on random channel access scheme to tackle the high degree of channel contention and high probability of packet collision induced by bursty traffic. In our model, each node optimally attempts a transmission, and our goal is to tune the attempt probability for each sensor node with the objective to minimize the data gathering duration on condition that each link can provide guaranteed per-hop packet delivery reliability. We formulate this problem as an optimization problem and propose a distributed solution which relies on only two hop neighbors information. Based on this model, a simple and scalable protocol RADG (Random Access Data Gathering) is designed. Simulation results show that our algorithm has fast convergence speed. Moreover, RADG is robust to link error in essence and particularly suitable to monitor environments with high degree of interference.