Efficient routing in large sensor grids supporting mobile drains

Different applications for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), such as intruder detection and pursuit scenarios, require the support for mobility. In this paper we propose the novel Mobile-drain Routing for Large Grids (MRLG) algorithm, which is intended to support drain mobility in WSNs in an efficient manner. MRLG allows reducing the routing load by relying on local route recovery processes, which provides significant efficiency in scenarios with a large number of sensors. Preliminary experimental results show that, when compared to typical proactive routing strategies based on drain announcements, the MRLG algorithm allows to significantly boost performance in terms of packet delivery ratio, end-toend delay, and routing overhead.