Reliability Control for Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Networks

Data aggregation is a method used in sensor networks to reduce the amount of messages transported. By aggregating, the data contained in several messages is fused into one single message. If such a message, containing the equivalent of many individual messages, is lost due to transmission errors then this has a detrimental effect on the application quality experienced. In many sensor network applications a constant supply of data is needed and therefore application quality is severely effected by excessive data loss. This paper proposes and evaluates the use of an in-network control mechanism to offset this disadvantageous effect. The control mechanism analytically calculates the correct reliability that an aggregate of given size must be forwarded at in order to meet application specific goals.