Angle-based dynamic path construction for route load balancing in wireless sensor networks

Since the routing is the most energy-consuming operation in large wireless sensor networks, the routing mechanisms need to dynamically distribute the routing load to multiple sensors in order to maximize the number of live sensors during a given time unit. In this paper we propose a novel angle-based dynamic path construction (ADPC) scheme for routing load distribution with a goal of ultimately extending the network lifetime. The ADPC scheme dynamically constructs a routing path to the base station with the help of a set of routers extracted from local neighbors. The router set selection is based on an angle, called routing angle, which plays a key role in controlling the number of routers and the length of the routing path which influences the data delivery latency. Each such router is chosen as a next-hop based on its current routing service load, thus achieving the delay-aware and energy-conserving routing load distribution. Simulation experiments demonstrate that the ADPC scheme leads to a much lower rate of sensor failures and is able to control the data delivery latency as compared to a single (alternate) path routing scheme.