Lightweight construction of the information potential field in wireless sensor networks

The information gradient-based routing protocols have been proved to be economical and effective by adopting the principle of achieving the global objective through local decision, but lightweight methods to construct the information gradient should be fully investigated, especially in a large-scale network with high information dynamics. In this paper, we focus on the construction of the information gradient by balancing convergence conditions and energy consumption. Therefore, two algorithms, Hierarchical Skeleton-based Construction Algorithm (HSCA) and Estimate value Substitution Algorithm (ESA) are proposed to achieve the goal of fastening the convergence in an energy efficient way. Both of the algorithms obey the typical assumptions on WSNs settings and the gossip-styled propagation principle. Comprehensive simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can reduce iteration times to reach a convergence status by 80% and conserve 30-50% energy consumption on average.