Distributed Data Aggregation with Geographical Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networking applications, gathering sensed information and relaying it to the sink node using multi-hop communication in an energy efficient manner is of paramount importance. In this paper we present the idea of using Aggregator Nodes in order to decrease the amount of packets sent, hence reducing the energy required for communication. We introduce DDAP, a self-organizing Distributed Data Aggregation Protocol that uses randomly chosen Aggregator Nodes (ANs). We propose an extension of GOAFR, a robust geographical routing algorithm, collaborating with DDAP called Geographical Routing with Aggregation Nodes (GRAN). Simulation results evaluating the performance of DDAP and GRAN are presented. We show that by using DDAP and GRAN significant reduction in data traffic can be achieved, resulting in power saving and thus network lifetime prolongation.