Fault-aware flow control and multi-path routing in wireless sensor networks

Maintaining an acceptable level of network performance degradation in the presence of faults has been an active research area in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This paper proposes a scheme to optimize the total network performance by exploiting fault-aware rate control and multi-path routing in WSNs. We use statistical information and estimation on each wireless link to characterize the effect of faults, and develop a leaky-path model. This model takes account of packet loss along fault-paths and the 'shrinking' feature of effective flow at the destination node. Based on the leaky-path model, we propose a fault-correlated flow control and routing ((FC)²R) approach to maximize the network utility of effective flows. A novel distributed algorithm is designed to adjust flow rates adaptively on each path, using multi-path routing. Our simulation results demonstrate that higher effective network throughput, and better fairness, can be achieved by our ((FC)²R) algorithm than the standard optimal flow control in the presence of faults.