Abstract— Standard embeded sensor nework models emphasize energy efficiency and distributed decision-making by considering untethered and unattended sensors. To this we add two constraints - the possibility of sensor failure and the fact that each sensor must tradeoff its own resource consumption with overall network objectives. In this paper, we develop an analytical model of data-centric information routing in sensor networks under all the above constraints. Unlike existing techniques, we use game theory to model intelligent sensors thereby making our approach sensor-centric. Sensors behave as rational players in an N-player routing game, where they tradeoff individual communication and other costs with network wide benefits. The outcome of the sensor behavior is a sequence of communication link establishments, resulting in routing paths from reporting to querying sensors. We show that the optimal routing architecture is the Nash equilibrium of the N-player routing game and that ...
Rajgopal Kannan, Sudipta Sarangi, S. Sitharama Iye