A Survey of Protocols for Intermittently Connected Delay-Tolerant Wireless Sensor Networks

TL;DR

This survey reviews the unique features and protocol requirements of Intermittently Connected Delay-Tolerant Wireless Sensor Networks, highlighting the gaps in existing protocols and outlining future research directions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of ICDT-WSNs, analyzing existing protocols for WSNs and DTNs in the context of ICDT-WSNs, and identifies research opportunities.

Findings

Existing protocols are often inadequate for ICDT-WSNs

ICDT-WSNs require specialized communication protocols

Future research directions are outlined

Abstract

Intermittently Connected Delay-Tolerant Wireless Sensor Networks (ICDT-WSNs), a branch of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), have features of WSNs and the intermittent connectivity of Delay-Tolerant Networks (DTNs). The applications of ICDT-WSNs are increasing in recent years, however, the communication protocols suitable for this category of networks often fall short. Most of the existing communication protocols are designed for either WSNs or DTNs and tend to be inadequate for direct use in ICDT-WSNs. This survey summarizes characteristics of ICDT-WSNs and their communication protocol requirements, and examines the communication protocols designed for WSNs and DTNs in recent years from the perspective of ICDT-WSNs. Opportunities for future research in ICDT-WSNs are also outlined.