Directional flooding method in wireless sensor network

• US 20060013154A1
• Filed: 08/04/2004
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ajou University, Ajou University Industry Cooperation Foundation
• Original Assignee: Ajou University Industry Cooperation Foundation
• Inventors: Ko, Young Bae, Kim, Jai Hoon, Choi, Jong Mu
• Granted Patent: US 7,295,521 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/18 Loop-free operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/32 Flooding denial of service attacks H04L63/1458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a directional flooding method in a wireless sensor network. Transfer of a packet between respective sensor nodes and a sink node in a wireless sensor network is made with the directivity. To this end, when the packet is transmitted from the sensor nodes to the sink node, only the sensor nodes having a minimum hop count for the sink node are involved in transmission of the packet. Meanwhile, if the packet is sent from the sink node to the sensor nodes within a given destination area, after the packet reaches a corresponding destination area, only sensor nodes located within the destination area transmit the packet. The present invention has an effect that it can improve energy consumed on average and a total number of packets transmitted when transmitting the packets in a wireless sensor network compared to a conventional simple flooding method.

Claims

1. A directional flooding method between respective sensor nodes and a sink node in a wireless sensor network in which the respective sensor nodes are constructed to know their positions, comprising the steps of:

allowing the sink node to inform the respective sensor nodes of its positional information;

allowing the respective sensor nodes to calculate a minimum hop count between themselves and the sink node;

allowing the respective sensor nodes that wants to transmits a packet to the sink node to put information on the minimum hop count into a corresponding packet and then to broadcast the packet to the sink node as the destination; and

allowing the respective sensor nodes that received the packet to compare their minimum hop counts and a minimum hop count written into the packet, if the minimum hop counts of the respective sensor nodes are smaller than the minimum hop count written into the packet, the respective sensor nodes write their minimum hop counts into the packet and then broadcast the packet, and if the minimum hop counts of the respective sensor nodes are not smaller than the minimum hop count written into the packet, the respective sensor nodes discard a corresponding packet, wherein this step is repeated until the packet reaches the sink node.

2. The directional flooding method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the calculation of the minimum hop counts made in the respective sensor nodes is made using positional information on a corresponding sensor node and the sink node and a transmission range of the corresponding sensor node.

3. A directional flooding method between a sink node and respective sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network in which the sink node is constructed to know a destination position to which a packet will be sent, comprising the steps of:

allowing the sink node to broadcast a packet with a central coordinate of a destination area, coordinates of the destination area, and a region flag indicating whether the packet reaches the destination area contained in the packet;

transmitting the packet sent by the sink node to the respective sensor nodes located within the destination area, and then allowing the sensor nodes located in the destination area to set the region flag if the region flag of the packet is not set; and

allowing the respective sensor nodes that received the packet set in the region flag to broadcast the packet if the respective sensor nodes are located within the destination area, and to disregard the packet if the respective sensor nodes are not located within the destination area, wherein this step is repeated until the packet is transmitted to the respective sensor nodes located within the destination area.

4. The directional flooding method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the sink node is constructed to calculate a minimum hop count up to the destination area and to broadcast information on the minimum hop count with it included in a packet to be sent.

5. The directional flooding method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the respective sensor nodes located between the sink node and the destination area are constructed to compare a minimum hop count from the respective sensor nodes to the destination area and a minimum hop written into the packet, if the minimum hop counts of the sensor nodes are smaller than the minimum hop count written into the packet, the sensor nodes write their minimum hop counts into the packet and then broadcast the packet, and if the minimum hop counts of the sensor nodes are not smaller than the minimum hop count written into the packet, the sensor nodes discard a corresponding packet.