A survey of energy-efficient self-organization and data dissemination protocols for ad hoc sensor networks

The area of ad hoc sensor networks has emerged as a major focus of activity in the networking community in recent years. Wireless sensor networks with their limited resources and unique application requirements pose a number of challenges, which must be overcome before the potential of these networks can be properly harnessed. Due to their unattended functioning, sensor networks need self-organization capabilities. They also need energy-efficient data dissemination protocols that can extend their lifetime. In this paper, we survey the issues and challenges involved in the design of energy-efficient self-configuration and data dissemination protocols for wireless sensor networks and review solutions that have been proposed for these problems.