A robust data gathering technique for large scaled wireless sensor networks

In this paper, the authors propose a data gathering scheme for large scaled wireless sensor networks using multiple mobile data collectors (MDC) and the spatial division multiple access (SDMA) technique. The authors focus on minimizing the data gathering time by employing the SDMA technique, and minimizing the length of touring paths of MDCs by employing Voronoi diagrams. The proposed scheme facilitates all deployed sensors to experience uniform energy depletion by avoiding long-distance transmissions to the base station. This, in turns, helps to prolong the lifetime of the network, and the network remains connected for longer period of time and increases the robustness. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme greatly reduces the traversal distance of the data collectors compared to the grid based approximation algorithm, prolongs the network lifetime significantly compared to a network which has only a static data collector, or a network in which the mobile collectors only move along straight lines.