Multihop/direct forwarding for 3D wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are limited in their energy, computation and communication capabilities. Energy efficiency and balancing are the primary challenges for WSNs since the sensor nodes cannot be easily recharged once they are deployed [3]. The data forwarding techniques play an important role in determining the energy consumption of the network. These techniques are employed to transmit the sensed information to the final destination. In this work, we analyze the behavior of one such technique known as Multihop/Direct Forwarding (MDF) [6], when applied to the sensor network deployed in three dimensional fields. The simulation is performed in MATLAB and the results are evaluated extensively against other data forwarding techniques such as Closest Forwarding (CF), Direct Forwarding (DF) and Multihop Forwarding (MF). The results reveal that the MDF scheme in 3D has lesser energy consumption than other data forwarding techniques. Moreover, it effectively balances the consumption of energy among all nodes. The network lifetime is also prolonged in case of MDF compared to other data forwarding techniques when applied in three dimensional fields.