Optimizing Query Processing in Cache-Aware Wireless Sensor Networks

Most models for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) assume the existence of a base station where query results could in principle be cached, however, the opportunity for re-using such cached data for minimizing data traffic in the WSN has not been well explored thus far. Aiming at filling this gap, we propose an approach that first clips the original query into a polygon after selectively choosing a good subset of the cached queries for reuse. Next, this polygon is partitioned into sub-queries that are then submitted to the WSN. These two problems are interconnected and lead to a highly combinatorial problem that justifies the use of efficient and effective heuristics. This paper presents algorithms for each of these problems that are used within a cost-driven optimization search in order to find a set of sub-queries that minimizes the cost of in-network query processing. Experimental results show that our heuristic solution is orders of magnitude faster than an exhaustive search, and yields no more than 10% loss compared to the optimal query processing.