Distributed Power Minimization for Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks attract more and more attention since they are capable of monitoring the environment. Since wireless sensor nodes typically have limited energy and power, power efficiency is a main concern in designing protocols for wireless sensor networks. Data aggregation is one of the strategies that can reduce the power consumption in wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a cross layer algorithm with data aggregation to minimize the power consumption. Most importantly, our proposed algorithm is distributed and therefore, it is suitable for wireless sensor networks. From numerical results, we conclude that not all data packets should be aggregated before they arrive the destination nodes.