Routing protocols for sensor networks

Sensor networks are emerging as a new tool for habitat monitoring in nature reserves, monitoring and gathering events in hazardous environments, surveillance of buildings, and surveillance of enemy activities in a battlefield environment. Nodes in a sensor network are severely constrained by energy, storage capacity and computing power. To prolong the lifetime of the sensor nodes, designing efficient routing protocols is critical. Even though sensor networks are primarily designed for monitoring and reporting events, since they are application dependent, a single routing protocol cannot be efficient for sensor networks across all applications. We first analyze the requirements and similarities of MANETs (mobile ad hoc networks) and sensor networks. Then, we describe the existing routing protocols for sensor networks and present a critical analysis of these protocols. Finally, we compare and contrast these protocols. This comparison reveals the important features that need to be taken into consideration while designing and evaluating new routing protocols for sensor networks.