Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

• Main Authors: Cláudia Jacy Barenco Abbas, Ana Lucila Sandoval Orozco, Alicia Triviño Cabrera, Luis Javier García Villalba
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2009-10-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: routing protocol; wireless sensor network
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/9/11/8399/

The applications of wireless sensor networks comprise a wide variety of scenarios. In most of them, the network is composed of a significant number of nodes deployed in an extensive area in which not all nodes are directly connected. Then, the data exchange is supported by multihop communications. Routing protocols are in charge of discovering and maintaining the routes in the network. However, the appropriateness of a particular routing protocol mainly depends on the capabilities of the nodes and on the application requirements. This paper presents a review of the main routing protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks. Additionally, the paper includes the efforts carried out by Spanish universities on developing optimization techniques in the area of routing protocols for wireless sensor networks.