ESCORT: Energy-Efficient Sensor Network Communal Routing Topology Using Signal Quality Metrics

ESCORT aims at decreasing the energy cost of communication in dense sensor networks. We employ radio frequency (RF) signal quality assessment in forming communities of redundant nodes. These communities avoid spanning regions of environmental interference to preserve the routing fidelity of the network. ESCORT is routing protocol-independent and conserves energy by alternating redundant nodes’ radio duty cycles. Simulation demonstrates that ESCORT enables nodes to deactivate their radios more than 60% of the time while sustaining acceptable communication performance.