Multi-tree routing for heterogeneous data traffic in wireless sensor networks

Nowadays, wireless sensor networks (WSN) are used in many different areas. Their capabilities have been increased in the recent years due to the recent advances in electronics. As a result, a single WSN can simultaneously manage multiple applications, generating heterogeneous traffic. Since each application has a different set of requirements, in terms of latency, reliability or energy consumption, single-tree routing schemes cannot efficiently work in this scenario. In order to deal with this situation, this work proposes a multi-tree routing solution based on a gradient routing approach. The proposed scheme constructs, in the same routing process, a different tree for each specific traffic, adapted to its particular requirements. Therefore, multiple and maybe opposite requirements can be fulfilled in the same WSN. Moreover, 3 different trees are proposed for the major data traffic groups in WSN (event detection, non-critical monitoring and critical monitoring). Finally, the proposed solution has been applied in a real scenario for an habitat monitoring application, including alarm messages, ambient conditions measurements and an indoor positioning system. This has validated the implementability of the proposed solution and its capability to efficiently manage heterogeneous traffic in a single WSN.