Title: Streaming multimedia over WMSNs: an online multipath routing protocol

Authors: Samir Medjiah; Toufik Ahmed; Abolghasem Hamid Asgari

Addresses: CNRS-LaBRI/Université de Bordeaux-1, 351, Cours de la Libération, 33405 – Talence Cedex, France. ' CNRS-LaBRI/Université de Bordeaux-1, 351, Cours de la Libération, 33405 – Talence Cedex, France. ' Thales Research and Technology (UK) Ltd., Worton Drive, Worton Grange Business Park, Berkshire, RG2 0SB, UK

Abstract: Routing is a challenge to Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) for supporting multimedia applications due to nodes' energy constraints and computational capabilities, and the ways sensor nodes obtain forwarding information. In this paper, we propose an online multipath routing protocol that uses nodes' positions to make forwarding decisions at each hop. Real-time decisions are made without any need to have the entire network topology knowledge. The protocol achieves load-balancing and minimises nodes' energy consumption by utilising: (a) smart greedy forwarding scheme for selecting next hop, and (b) walking back forwarding scheme to bypass network holes. Performance comparisons of the proposed protocol (schemes) are made with TPGF and GPSR. The results show that our schemes: (a) maximise the overall network lifespan by not draining energy from some specific nodes, (b) provide QoS delivery for video streams by using best nodes along the route, and (c) scale better in high-density WMSN.

Keywords: WSNs; WMSN; online multipath routing; geographic routing; angle routing; multipath routing; energy aware routing; QoS; quality of service; streaming multimedia; wireless sensor networks; load balancing; energy consumption; wireless multimedia sensor networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2012.045036

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2012 Vol.11 No.1, pp.10 - 21

Published online: 22 Jan 2012 *

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