Evaluation Framework of Opportunistic Flooding in Wireless Sensor Networks

The path of the information flow in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) depends on the application and the particular requirements of the network. While tree-based routing algorithms are able to cope with most of the demands of periodic monitoring, a flooding protocol is necessary when the information should reach every node of the network. Opportunistic flooding is a novel protocol to flood information in WSNs which considers unreliable wireless links. It achieves good performance concerning flooding delay and energy consumption while exploiting low-duty-cycling protocols. In this work, a deep evaluation and characterization of the opportunistic flooding protocol is presented considering reliable and unreliable transmission schemes. Performance analysis is evaluated for the two mechanisms based on acknowledgments and probabilistic retransmissions. Simulation results under multiple scenarios show the behavior of the two mechanisms in different environments while providing a frame of reference to choose one scheme based on the application requirements.