Timing-controlled, low-energy data query in wireless sensor networks: towards a cross-layer optimization approach

Data query in a large-scale wireless sensor network should be based on a low-energy and scalable routing scheme. In this paper, we propose a ripple-tree-zone-based intra-zone/inter-zone routing scheme to significantly lower the communication overhead associated with data queries in wireless sensor networks. We do not separate the design of routing layer and MAC layer as suggested by most of existing WSN stacks. This enables us to greatly extend the sleep/dormant periods of sensor nodes through a parameter exchange between the routing and MAC layers. Thus, we achieve a much longer network lifetime. Another contribution outlined in this paper includes a novel timing control scheme between neighboring levels of sensors in the query tree to achieve a good trade-off between data aggregation accuracy and query delay. We perform extended simulations to verify the low-energy of our query scheme.