A ladder diffusion algorithm using ant colony optimization for wireless sensor networks

In this paper, an algorithm based on ladder diffusion and ACO [5,6] is proposed to solve the power consumption and transmission routing problems in wireless sensor networks. The proposed ladder diffusion algorithm is employed to route paths for data relay and transmission in wireless sensor networks, reducing both power consumption and processing time to build the routing table and simultaneously avoiding the generation of circle routes. Moreover, to ensure the safety and reliability of data transmission, our algorithm provides backup routes to avoid wasted power and processing time when rebuilding the routing table in case part of sensor nodes are missing. According to the experimental results, the proposed algorithm not only reduces power consumption by 52.36% but also increases data forwarding efficiency by 61.11% as compared to the directed diffusion algorithm. This decrease is because the algorithm properly assigns the transmission routes to balance the load on every sensor node.