O(1)-Reception routing for sensor networks

In traditional approaches to energy-efficient routing, a node needs to receive routing messages from all of its neighbors to be able to select the best route. In this work, we propose a technique that enables the best route selection based on exactly one message reception. We call the resulting routing protocol O(1)-reception. In O(1)-reception, each node delays forwarding of routing messages (RREQs) for an interval inversely proportional to its residual energy. This energy-delay mapping technique makes it possible to enhance an existing min-delay routing protocol into an energy-aware routing that maximizes the lifetime of sensor networks. We also identify comparative elements that help us to perform a thorough a posteriori comparison of the mapping functions in terms of the route selection precision. Simulation results show that our mapping functions select routes with very high precision while keeping the propagation delay of routing messages reasonable. In addition, we show that redundant messages filtering significantly extends lifetime of sensor networks compared to classical maximum lifetime approaches in which no filtering is applied. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.