Multi-Probing Opportunistic Routing in Buffer-Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are fundamental building blocks of modern ubiquitous sensing systems. In many practical WSN deployments, sensing devices are tightly constrained in buffer capacity, while device mobility leads to topology decentralization. These characteristics pose significant challenges for reliable and timely data delivery across WSNs. In this paper, we propose a general multi-probing opportunistic routing strategy tailored for buffer-constrained WSNs, aiming to enhance transmission opportunity utilization under realistic sensing device limitations. With the help of Queueing Theory and Markov Chain Theory, we capture the sophisticated queueing processes for the buffer space of sensors, which enables the limiting distribution of the buffer occupation state to be determined. On this basis, we develop a theoretical performance modeling framework to evaluate the fundamental performance metrics of the WSN with the multi-probing opportunistic routing, including the per-flow throughput and the expected end-to-end delay. The validity of the performance modeling framework is verified by network simulations. Moreover, extensive numerical results demonstrate the network performance behaviors comprehensively and reveal some insightful findings that can serve as important guidelines for the configuration and operation of WSNs.