A Study on a Sequenced Directed Diffusion Algorithm for Sensor Networks

Advances in wireless networking, micro-fabrication and integration, and embedded microprocessors have enabled a new generation of massive-scale sensor networks. Because each sensor node is limited in size and capacity, it is very important to design a new simple and energy efficient protocol. Among conventional sensor networks´ routing protocols, the directed diffusion scheme is widely known because of its simplicity. This scheme, however, has a defect in that sending interest and exploratory data messages while setting connection paths consumes much energy because of its flooding scheme. Therefore, this paper proposes a new sensor network routing protocol, called sequenced directed diffusion with a threshold control, which compromises the conventional DD scheme´s defect and offers an energy efficient routing idea. With a computer simulation, its performance is evaluated and compared to the conventional DD scheme. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme offers energy efficiency while routing packets, and resolves ill-balanced energy consumption among sensor nodes.