An efficient hybrid routing algorithm for ZigBee networks

To overcome the flaws of ignoring the energy consumption and flooding RREQ packets in the present hybrid routing algorithms for ZigBee networks, we propose in this paper an efficient hybrid routing algorithm without flooding (EHRA). EHRA sufficiently utilizes the information of nodes´ neighbors and includes the depth and the residual energy of nodes in its routing metric, so as to reduce overhead and to select nodes with more remaining energy for routing. Thus network overhead is reduced and the energy consumption of nodes is balanced. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that EHRA outperforms the classical tree routing (TR) algorithm and the limited flooding ZigBee ad-hoc on-demand distance vector routing algorithm (LF-ZAODV) in terms of routing overhead, energy balance of nodes, and network lifetime.