Scalable Base-Station Model-Based Multicast in Wireless Sensor Networks

Multicast is essential for wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. Existing multicast protocols in WSNs are often designed in a P2P pattern, assuming small number of destination nodes and frequent changes in network topologies. In order to truly adopt multicast in WSNs, we propose a base-station model-based multicast, SenCast, to meet the general requirements of applications. SenCast is scalable and energy-effcient for large group communications in WSNs. Theoretical analysis shows that SenCast is able to approximate the Minimum Nonleaf Nodes (MNN) problem to a ratio of ln |R| (R is the set of all destinations), the best known lowest bound. We evaluate our design through comprehensive simulations and prototype implementations on Mica2 motes. Experimental results demonstrate that SenCast outperforms previous multicast protocols including the most recent work uCast.