Abstract

This paper presents a new event-based communication model for wireless multi-hop networks of energy-constrained devices such as sensor networks. The network is arranged as an event dissemination tree, with nodes subscribing to the event types they are interested in. An event scheduler dynamically allocates and multiplexes upstream and downstream time slots for each event type. Power consumption among wireless nodes is reduced by allowing each node to power down its radio during the portions of the schedule that do not match its particular event subscription. The event dissemination schedule can be determined in both a centralized and distributed fashion, and is highly dynamic to suit the changing rates at which events are generated and distributed through the network. The paper also presents preliminary performance results that demonstrate the power savings achieved by the proposed protocols.

Citations