Energy efficient data aggregation techniques in wireless sensor networks

The data in wireless sensor networks is organized in an efficient manner using data aggregation and data dissemination protocols. Due to the energy constraints in sensor nodes, energy-efficient data aggregation protocols are used to save the node energy and enhance the network life cycle. Deploying additional sensor nodes in the network reduce the resource constraints but increase the rate of data redundancy. This limitation is addressed by the data aggregation protocols in sensor networks. Data aggregation protocols use cluster head node to collect the data, aggregate the data and forward the data to the base station. The primary attributes considered in the design of data aggregation protocols are energy, latency, cluster size and data rate. In this article, we present a novel approach to classify the energy-efficient data aggregation protocols based on structure, search-based and time-based approaches. Analysis for structure-free, structure-based, distance and time-based data aggregation protocols are given in detail. Simulation results indicate that the energy and throughput rate are improved in the cluster-based data aggregation protocols as compared to the structure-free, time-based or search-based data aggregation protocols.