ROUTE DISCOVERY METHODS BASED ON RECEIVED POWER OF REPEATER NODES FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

In this paper, two route discovery methods based on received power of repeater nodes for sensor networks are studied. The first proposed method is a simple one and the second proposed method is in multipath fading environments. In both methods, the received power information in Physical Layer of repeater nodes is added to Route Request Message, and the message is transferred from a source node to a destination node via repeater nodes. When each repeater node received Route Request Message, the message is decided whether accept or not by referring to received power information in Physical Layer. In the destination node, the most optimal route is selected from plural candidates according to the following criteria: received power level, number of hops and sequence number. From the results of computer simulations, it has been clarified that the first proposed method has advantages in the route effective time, data distribution ratio and throughput comparing with the conventional method even if the route discovery time is lengthened by about 0.5 seconds. Also it has been clarified that the second proposed method in multipath fading environments has advantages in the route effective time and data distribution ratio comparing with the conventional method even if the route discovery time is lengthened by about 3 seconds.