Packet Transmission Scheduling Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks with Energy Limited Mobile Sink

A transmission scheduling algorithm is proposed for wireless sensor networks with energy limited mobile sinks. The algorithm is primarily based on the well known tradeoff between the expected number of data packets that are successfully received by the sink and the transmission power consumed in the system. The likelihood of having new packets generated at the sensor node during the transmission as well as the possibility of erroneous reception of acknowledge packets at the sensor node are accounted for in the algorithm. The behavior of the system is studied in terms of power consumption and packet reception for different packet generation rates as well as different costs of transmission power at the sink.