Madasamy P, P Subramanian
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have enabled a wide spectrum of applications through networked lowcost low-power sensor nodes. Mobile sinks, such as animals or vehicles equipped with radio devices, are sent into a field and communicate directly with sensor nodes, resulting in shorter data transmission paths and reduced energy consumption. Data gathering using mobile sinks introduces new challenges to sensor network applications. To better benefit from the sink’s mobility, many research efforts have been focused on studying or scheduling movement patterns of a mobile sink to visit some special places in a deployed area, in order to minimize data gathering time. In such approaches a mobile sink moves to pre-determined sojourn points and query each sensor node individually. The work proposed does not fix predefined trajectories for the mobile sink but allows flexible movement over different terrains. Simulations in the Network simulator of the Proactive Data Reporting Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks are performed to analyses the efficiency and benefits of using Sink Trail in the upcoming wireless sensor applications