A Synchronization and Routing Protocol for Rechargeable Sensor Networks

Rechargeable sensor networks have been studied as a candidate for next generation wireless sensor networks. However, rechargeable sensor nodes cannot always communicate with other nodes because the rechargeable sensor nodes cannot receive a stable supply power. To cope with this problem, transmission power control algorithm RT-TPC (Relay Traffic-based Transmission Power Control) has been proposed. However, the algorithm does not consider the power generation pattern of each sensor node. In addition, RT-TPC is only able to support the node placement of a one-dimensional problem. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional routing protocol based on the power generation pattern of the sensor node. Furthermore, we also propose a synchronization protocol to support the uneven charge-rate of the sensor node. In our protocol, each sensor node sends its power generation pattern and charge rate to the neighboring node. The information is used to decide the selection the destination node. The preliminary evaluation shows that the proposed protocols are able to achieve higher delivery ratio than the previous work.