Simulation based Evaluation of Attribute Aware Scheduling in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

In many applications of sensor networks, it is required to sense multiple physical parameters of the same region. So multiple different types of sensors are deployed. Such networks are known as heterogeneous networks. In tree based heterogeneous networks, complete aggregation is not possible at every node. The reason is that parent and child node may be of different types. The term Attribute is used to refer to type of packet. When objective is to maximize aggregation, parent selection should be done such that packet sent by given node should be aggregated as soon as possible in its path towards the sink. This approach would result in reduction in schedule length of the tree. Such an algorithm is known as Attribute Aware Scheduling Algorithm. In this work, one such algorithm is evaluated through simulations. It is found that Attribute Aware Scheduling results in better aggregation, smaller schedule length, and reduction in energy consumption. The reduction in schedule length means smaller latency and reduction in energy consumption means extended network lifetime.