A reliable and total order tree based broadcast in wireless sensor network

A reliable broadcast demands that each data packet forwarded from the source node is received by all other nodes in the network without any loss. A flooding based Broadcast scheme incurs significant overhead due to explosion of packets in the network. So an efficient way of routing packets in order to broadcast saves the energy of resource constrained sensor nodes. The delivery of broadcast packets at each node in correct sequence is also crucial for certain applications. In this paper a tree based broadcast mechanism is proposed that constructs a spanning tree out of all nodes in the network rooted at the source of the broadcast. The broadcast tree eventually becomes a Breadth-First Search(BFS) tree where each node maintains the shortest path to the root. So packets routed through the shortest paths reduce transmission delay and packet loss. BFS tree based broadcast saves the battery power at each node by reducing the number of packet transmissions. The proposed scheme for broadcast is also crash tolerant. Each node computes a maintenance plan during the broadcast tree construction for future requirement. If a node dies, all the nodes in neighborhood repairs the tree locally within constant round of message transmissions. Each broadcast packet is assured to be delivered at each node without redundancy and maintaining the correct order.