Exploring the Energy-Latency Trade-off of Broadcasts in IEEE 802.11 Power Save Networks

Efficient information dissemination is essential for the operation of sensor networks. However, one of the challenges to efficient information dissemination arises from only a random subset of nodes being active in any given time. This is mainly due to sensor networks employing power-saving techniques to compensate the energy constraints of sensor nodes. Specifically, significant delay is incurred from any packet transmission attempt in a power-saving network that allow nodes periodically switch to sleep modes to conserve energy. In this paper, we propose a Probability-Based Broadcast Protocol (PBBF) that aims to provide fast broadcast propagation in the case of such networks. Simulation studies show that PBBF efficient and effective information dissemination with low latency while still maintaining high delivery ratios.