Network scheduling for data archiving applications in sensor networks

Abstract

Since data archiving in sensor networks is a communication intensive application, a careful power management of communication is of critical importance for such networks. An example is FPS, an adaptive power scheduling algorithm that combines slotted scheduling with a CSMA MAC [7]. In this paper, we first propose a new global power scheduling protocol called Multi-Flow Power Scheduling (MPS) that delivers more data and consumes less energy than existing power scheduling protocols. MPS sets up a transmission schedule through standard data aggregation and dissemination operations, however since it creates a global schedule it does not scale to large networks. We then present a new power scheduling protocol called Hybrid Power Scheduling (HPS) that retains the scalability of FPS while maintaining the energy efficiency and high data delivery rate of MPS. In a thorough simulation study, we compare HPS and MPS, and our results show the efficacy of HPS.