Requirements of Routing Algorithms for Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of small nodes with sensing, computation, and wireless communications capabilities. Many routing, power management, and data dissemination protocols have been specially designed for WSNs where energy awareness is an essential design issue. The focus, however, has been given to the routing protocols which might differ depending on the application and network architecture. In this paper, we present design challenges that are required to be fulfilled for routing techniques in WSNs. We first outline the differences in the approach required for designing routing algorithms for WSNs as compared to other Wireless networks followed by a design issues in routing algorithms for WSNs. The paper concludes with possible future research areas.