We consider the important problem of energy balanced data propagation in wireless sensor networks and we extend and generalize previous works by allowing adaptive energy assignment. We consider the data gathering problem where data are generated by the sensors and must be routed toward a unique sink. Sensors route data by either sending the data directly to the sink or in a multi-hop fashion by delivering the data to a neighbouring sensor. Direct and neighbouring transmissions require different levels of energy consumption. Basically, the protocols balance the energy consumption among the sensors by computing the adequate ratios of direct and neighbouring transmissions. An abstract model of energy dissipation as a random walk is proposed, along with rigorous performance analysis techniques. Two efficient distributed algorithms are presented and analysed, by both rigorous means and simulation. The first one is easy to implement and fast to execute. The protocol assumes that sensors know...
Pierre Leone, Sotiris E. Nikoletseas, José