Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network-Based Message Forwarding for a River Pollution Monitoring Wireless Sensor Network...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Computer Science
• Network Engineering

Background:

• Remote monitoring projects often struggle with communication difficulties.
• The GOLDFISH project aimed to monitor river pollution in developing countries using sensor clusters.
• Floating WiFi antennas and inconsistent 2G/3G availability posed significant communication challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN)-based solution for reliable data transmission from remote, mobile sensors.
• To address communication disruptions caused by antenna movement and unreliable backhaul in riverine environments.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) architecture with persistent storage on all nodes.
• Utilizing a mechanical backhaul system for periodic data collection from a riverbank gateway.
• Deployment of floating WiFi antennas along a river's course for sensor data transmission.

Main Results:

• The proposed DTN-based forwarding protocol achieved approximately 98% message delivery success rate.
• The solution demonstrated superior performance compared to other established DTN routing protocols in the tested scenario.
• Persistent storage and DTN protocols enabled nodes to overcome temporary communication outages.

Conclusions:

• DTN-based solutions are highly effective for non-real-time data transmission in challenging remote environments with intermittent connectivity.
• Mechanical backhaul combined with DTN protocols offers a robust and reliable method for data retrieval from sensor networks in difficult terrains.
• The GOLDFISH project's DTN approach successfully mitigated communication disruptions, enhancing the feasibility of remote environmental monitoring.