Role Assignment for Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Networks

One of the key design goals in the design of wireless sensor networks is the efficient utilization of scarce resources such as bandwidth and energy supply. Data aggregation is a powerful technique to reduce the volume of traffic carried by the network. Data aggregation reduces congesting, saves bandwidth, saves energy and improves the lifetime of the network. In this paper we study the integrated routing and role assignment problem for efficient data aggregation in the wireless sensor networks. The objective is to identify an optimal subset of sensor nodes which should play the role of data aggregators so as to maximize the lifetime of the sensor network. Integrated routing and role assignment problem has been formulated as a mixed integer linear program (MILP). Simulations are performed on a sample grid topology to identify the optimal subset of sensor nodes which should operate as aggregators. Results show that input parameters such as transmitter type (adaptive or non-adaptive) and transmission range have significant impact on the outcome of experiments.