Optimized routing in a location aware system for Wireless Sensor Networks

Nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks are typically considered to be energy constrained, small in size, with little processing power and limited battery energy storage. In order to increase performance of sensor nodes in a network, either the energy of the nodes must be increased or its operational efficiency must be increased. A key operational factor is the routing protocol. Augmentation of the energy of sensor nodes will have an overall impact on their design. However, a more energy efficient routing protocol may be deployed without change to the physical design of the nodes. The use of location knowledge by the nodes in a network enables a spatial vector routing protocol to exploit their spatial coordinates to route the data through the network. The paper describes the protocol and the mechanism used for data packets whose traverse through the network is controlled through their target direction vector to provide the shortest distance towards the destination point. A set of simulated trials is described. The results summarized in the paper demonstrate the major performance benefits of the spatial vector routing protocol, in terms of efficient routing and energy usage minimization in sensor networks.