Hexagonal path data dissemination for energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks

As sensor technology continues to improve, sensors will be deployed in many more applications. Mobile services utilized by mobile users who wish to access the Internet and sensor networks are becoming more common. Two-tier data dissemination (TTDD) is a scheme that transmits data using square virtual paths. TTDD uses energy efficiently by consuming energy only in sensor nodes that are on virtual paths even if the user who collects the information moves. However, this scheme must use fixed square virtual paths to communicate. It incurs overhead by using a detouring path instead of the shortest practical path. Therefore, the proposed scheme can use both a straight line path and a diagonal line path of a hexagon by constructing a hexagonal virtual path. Compared to TTDD, the energy efficiency is improved because fewer sensor nodes are employed for data communication. The energy consumption of the sensor nodes is decreased by using less energy to generate and to maintain the virtual path and the data transmission path. The energy efficiency and the transmission success rate can be improved by as much as 61% and by approximately 15%, respectively.