Natarajan Meghanathan¹ and Philip Mumford², ¹ Jackson State University, USA and ² Air Force Research Lab/RYWC, USA

A mobile sensor network is a wireless network of sensor nodes that move arbitrarily. In this paper, we explore the use of a maximum stability spanning tree-based data gathering (Max.Stability-DG) algorithm and a minimum-distance spanning tree-based data gathering (MST-DG) algorithm for mobile sensor networks. We analyze the impact of these two algorithms on the node failure times, specifically with respect to the node lifetime (the time of first node failure) and network lifetime (the time of disconnection of the network of live sensor nodes due to one or more node failures). Both the Max.Stability-DG and MST-DG algorithms are based on a greedy strategy of determining a data gathering tree when one is needed and using that tree as long as it exists. The Max.Stability-DG algorithm assumes the availability of the complete knowledge of future topology changes and determines a data gathering tree whose corresponding spanning tree would exist for the longest time since the current time instant; whereas, the MST-DG algorithm determines a data gathering tree whose corresponding spanning tree is the minimum distance tree at the current time instant. We observe a node lifetime – network lifetime tradeoff: the Max.Stability-DG trees incur a lower node lifetime due to repeated use of a data gathering tree for a longer time; on the other hand, the Max.Stability-DG trees incur a longer network lifetime.

Data Gathering, Maximum Stability, Minimum Distance Spanning Tree, Mobile Sensor Networks, Node Lifetime, Coverage Loss Time