SelectCast: Scalable data aggregation scheme in wireless sensor networks

—In this work, for a wireless sensor network (WSN) of n randomly placed sensors with node density λ ∈ [1, n], we study the tradeoffs between the aggregation throughput and gathering efficiency. The gathering efficiency refers to the ratio of the number of the sensors whose data has been gathered to the total number of sensors. Specifically, we design two efficient aggregation schemes, called single-hop-length (SLH) scheme and multiple-hop-length (MLH) scheme. By novelly integrating these two schemes, we theoretically prove that our protocol achieves the optimal tradeoffs, and derive the optimal aggregation throughput depending on a given threshold value (lower bound) on gathering efficiency. Particularly, we show that under the MLH scheme, for a practically important set of symmetric functions called perfectly compressible functions, including the mean, max, or various kinds of indicator functions, etc., the data from Θ(n) sensors can be aggregated to the sink at the through...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Cheng Wang, ShaoJie Tang, Xiang-Yang Li, Changjun Jiang
• Keywords: Communications, INFOCOM 2011, Optimal Tradeoffs, Threshold Value, Wireless Sensor Network