A location-based routing algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have received a lot of attention because of their ease of deployment in numerous applications and scenarios, ranging from indoor home use to large outdoor implementations. The lack of a central authority and their dynamic topology present numerous challenges in routing packets efficiently while at the same time saving energy. Minimizing energy consumption is very important because of the reliance of the wireless sensor nodes on their limited energy supply, dictated by the capacity of the installed battery. In this work, a location-based routing algorithm that implements a greedy forwarding approach that adapts the transmission power depending on the distance between the communicating nodes is proposed. Results show the efficacy of the solution, where more than 99% of the transmitted packets are delivered while consuming, on average, around 33% less power, hence increasing the lifetime of the WSN.