PAGER: a distributed algorithm for the dead-end problem of location-based routing in sensor networks

The dead-end problem is an importance issue of location-based routing in sensor networks, which occurs when a message falls into a local minimum using greedy forwarding. Current methods for this problem are insufficient either in eliminating traffic/path memorization or finding satisfied short paths. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm, named partial-partition avoiding geographic routing (PAGER), to solve the problem. The basic idea of PAGER is to divide a sensor network graph into functional sub-graphs, and provide each sensor node with message forwarding directions based on these sub-graphs. That results in loop-free short paths without memorization of traffics/paths in sensor nodes. We implement our algorithm in a protocol and evaluate it in sensor networks with different parameters. Results show that PAGER generates considerably shorter paths, higher delivery ratio and lower energy consumption than the greedy perimeter stateless routing protocol. At the same time, PAGER achieves better performance in handling large-scale networks than the ad-hoc on-demand distance vector protocol