ERTP : Energy-efficient and reliable transport protocol for data streaming in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Emerging data streaming applications in Wireless Sensor Networks require reliable and energy-efficient
Transport Protocols. Our recent Wireless Sensor Network deployment in the Burdekin delta, Australia, for
water monitoring [T. Le Dinh, W. Hu, P. Sikka, P. Corke, L. Overs, S. Brosnan, Design and deployment of a
remote robust sensor network: experiences from an outdoor water quality monitoring network, in: Second
IEEE Workshop on Practical Issues in Building Sensor Network Applications (SenseApp 2007), Dublin,
Ireland, 2007] is one such example. This application involves streaming sensed data such as pressure,
water flow rate, and salinity periodically from many scattered sensors to the sink node which in turn
relays them via an IP network to a remote site for archiving, processing, and presentation. While latency
is not a primary concern in this class of application (the sampling rate is usually in terms of minutes or
hours), energy-efficiency is. Continuous long-term operation and reliable delivery of the sensed data to
the sink are also desirable.
This paper proposes ERTP, an Energy-efficient and Reliable Transport Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks.
ERTP is designed for data streaming applications, in which sensor readings are transmitted from
one or more sensor sources to a base station (or sink). ERTP uses a statistical reliability metric which
ensures the number of data packets delivered to the sink exceeds the defined threshold. Our extensive
discrete event simulations and experimental evaluations show that ERTP is significantly more energyefficient
than current approaches and can reduce energy consumption by more than 45% when compared
to current approaches. Consequently, sensor nodes are more energy-efficient and the lifespan of the unattended
WSN is increased.