A self-configuration and routing approach for proliferated sensor systems

Wireless sensor networks enable several novel applications including scientific, military, medical, and commercial domains. The power consumption issue is the most challenged consideration in developing wireless sensor network related algorithms. This paper investigates the initialization and routing problems in wireless sensor networks. A self configuration & routing (SC&R) approach is proposed. The SC&R consists of two parts: a distributed self configuration protocol and a light-loaded one-way routing protocol. The first SC part is a distributed protocol to obtain a locally unique identifier for each sensor node. The one-way routing protocol is initiated via a sink node to deliver a perfume message. According to the perfumed strength, each sensor node chooses a sub-optimal routing towards the sink node distributively and locally. In comparison with the traditional broadcast delivery mode, the SC&R significantly conserves power consumption in an energy constrained sensor network.