Coordinated Convergecast Routing for Wireless Sensor Networks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Convergecast in wireless sensor networks faces challenges with high contention at bottleneck nodes, leading to increased packet loss and reduced reliability and throughput due to the non-uniform bandwidth demand and potential collisions in large-scale networks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a network routing method that determines the number of hops to a root node and delays packet forwarding based on this distance, using temporal coordination and probabilistic suppression mechanisms to reduce collisions and optimize data flow, combined with constrained flooding for efficient data collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If nodes forward packets immediately upon reception in convergecast, then throughput is maximized, but packet loss increases due to high contention at bottleneck nodes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-computing and storing delay values for each node based on its distance to the sink node before the actual data collection phase. This allows nodes to automatically implement coordinated delays without real-time computation, resolving the contradiction by enabling immediate forwarding decisions while preventing collisions through pre-planned timing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic action through the coordinated delay mechanism where nodes transmit packets at predetermined time intervals based on their hop distance from the sink. This periodic transmission pattern ensures that nodes at different distances transmit at different times, reducing contention at bottleneck nodes while maintaining high throughput.
2Loss of time
If nodes transmit simultaneously to reduce latency, then response time is minimized, but collisions increase reducing reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different delay characteristics to nodes based on their local position (distance to sink node). Each node receives a customized delay value tailored to its specific location in the network, allowing simultaneous transmission intent to be satisfied locally while preventing global collisions through spatially differentiated timing.
3Ease of manufacture
If CSMA protocol is used for simple access control, then implementation is easy, but packet loss increases under high load conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of a centralized controller that computes and distributes coordinated delay values to all nodes. This intermediary layer enables complex collision avoidance behavior without requiring complex local decision-making at each node, maintaining implementation simplicity while dramatically reducing packet loss under high load conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
A network routing method and system may include initializing the network by determining, for each node of the network, a number of hops to a root node and delaying forwarding to the root node, for each node, a packet received, wherein the delay in forwarding the packet received to the root node from a forwarding node depends upon the number of hops separating the root node from the forwarding node. A network routing method and system may include initializing the network by determining, for each node of the network, a number of hops to a root node, determining, for a forwarding node that receives a packet from a sending node, whether to forward the packet to a root node, determining a delay after which the packet is to be forwarded to the root node and determining a probability of forwarding the packet to the root node.