Pendulum: An energy efficient protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to recent advances in microelectronics, the development of low-cost, small, and energy efficient devices became possible. Those advances led to the birth of the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). WSNs consist of a large set of sensor nodes equipped with communication capabilities, scattered in the area to monitor. Researchers focus on several aspects of WSNs. Such aspects include the quality of service the WSNs provide, the robustness of the network, and making the energy consumption in the network as low as possible to prolong the network´s lifetime. In this paper, we present an approach that can be applied to the sensing devices that are scattered in an area for Sensor Networks. This work will expand on the well-known approach of using an awaking scheduling to extend the network´s lifespan. We designed a scheduling algorithm that will reduce the delay´s upper bound the reported data will experience, while at the same time keeps the advantages that are offered by the use of an awaking scheduling. We apply the proposed method to a set of simulated nodes using the ¿ONE Simulator¿. We compare the performance of this approach with three other approaches - Direct Routing technique, the well-known LEACH algorithm, and a multi-parent scheduling algorithm.