Survey on Sink Repositioning Techniques in Wireless Sensor Networks

Sink relocation is essential in wireless sensor network since relocating sink can balance the traffic load in the midst of multiple nodes and thereby decrease the miss rate of real-time packets. The main constraint in wireless sensor networks is limited energy supply at the sensor nodes so it is important to deploy the sink at a position with respect to the area of interest; a specific area that is of more interest to the end-user, such that total energy consumption is minimized. But little survey work has been done in the sink repositioning topic till date. Existing survey on sink repositioning techniques in wireless sensor networks consider only static and mobile sink. No much importance is given to the hybrid sink deployment techniques. Hence in this survey, we present an up-to date survey of the sink deployment technique in the wireless sensor networks. This survey provides a thorough analysis of the metrics supported by each technique during sink relocation and presents the limitations of these techniques. Finally, a comparative study of sink deployment techniques based on various metrics is also performed.