Multi Attribute Based Algorithm for Reliable Satellite-Based Sensor Networks

Modern environmental monitoring systems are based on satellite-based sensor networks (SSN) where earth stations (Sinks) gather information from sensors and use the satellite channel to send it to remote sites. For the sake of efficiency of a whole monitoring system, the SSN has to be managed by following two main aims: to guarantee the reliability, in particular in case of failure of the satellite portion of the network, and to limit both delay, which is representative of a very important Quality of Service (QoS) metric, and energy consumption. The dynamic sink selection process may allow reaching both aims of the system. In more detail, the paper proposes: the description of the SSN architecture taken as reference, the quality requirements of the system, a revision of the Sink selection method called LINMAP, and an introductive simulative study of its performance in case of failure of the satellite portion of the system.