A Multi Route Rank Based Routing Protocol for Industrial Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks

Wireless Mesh Sensor nodes are deployed in harsh environments, like Industrial Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks (IWMSN). There the equipment is exposed to temperature and electrical noise, so providing a reliable, interference free and efficient communication in this environment is a challenge. We propose a Multi Route Rank based Routing (MR3) protocol, which enhances the link dynamics for IWMSN and also provides interference free reliable packet delivery in harsh environments. The rank of a node is estimated based on density, hop count, energy and Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR). The route discovery phase finds the rank value to forward the data packet in a reliable path. Once the forwarding path is established, subsequently the data packets can be propagated towards the destination without using any location information. Our simulation results show that this method improves the packet delivery ratio and the throughput tremendously, and at the same time minimizes the packet delay, in heavy traffic condition.