Cache-aware mobile data collection schedule for IoT enabled multi-rate data generator wireless sensor network

Abstract The energy hole problem is a major concern in the wireless sensor network (WSN) given the uneven energy depletion of the power-constrained sensor nodes. Recently, several studies have incorporated a mobile data collector (MDC) to collect data from sensor nodes where the MDC reaches a set of data collection points (DCPs) to collect data from nearby nodes. This strategy has resolved the underlying cause of unbalanced energy consumption by avoiding the long chain of multi-hop routing. However, in most of the existing protocols, sensor nodes information is relayed to the Base Station (BS) to nominate MDC sojourn points and travel sequence. Such a centralized approach results in a substantial exchange of messages among sensor nodes causing high energy consumption. Moreover, these approaches perceived a uniform data generation rate at sensor nodes while ignoring the limited buffer cache capacity during the MDC path design. In this context, this paper proposes a distributed MDC sojourn point nomination method that significantly improves the message complexity and energy consumption of the WSN. The selected DCPs information is relayed to the BS where a modified Ant Colony Optimization algorithm is applied to construct the MDC traversal path. The performance of the proposed protocol is extensively analysed with some related existing schemes in terms of network parameters like energy efficiency, network lifetime, packet delivery ratio, and end to end delay. Moreover, the scalability of the proposed scheme is evaluated by varying the number of MDC and sensor nodes in the network.