Fuzzy Diffusion Analysis: Decision Significance and Applicable Scenarios

Distributed wireless sensor networks (WSNs) operate under severe energy constraints and are largely characterized by short-range multi-hop radio communications, which signify the role of energy-efficient routing schemes for such networks. Fuzzy diffusion, an energy optimization on the general diffusion schemes for application-aware sensor networks, has been shown to offer substantial improvement in WSN lifetime and connectivity. The initial exploration depicted the advantages of extreme conservative routing in dense WSNs. However, a progressive investigation of fuzzy diffusion is needed to address several important aspects of the protocol mechanism and to quantify its applicability. Fuzzy diffusion is primarily based upon energy-aware routing decisions, and so an analysis of the impact of decision-making strategies on the protocol performance is required to substantiate the use of any specific tool. The purpose of this work is to quantify the contribution of fuzzy logic in computing efficient forwarding decisions as compared to simpler, straightforward crisp decision-making strategies. Further, this paper aims at exploring the network and traffic scenarios under which fuzzy diffusion scheme would be efficient, through a series of simulation experiments