Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks are catching up as the primary mode for monitoring and collecting data in physically challenging environments. They find applications in various fields varying from environment monitoring, military applications to monitoring patients in hospitals. The low cost, ad hoc deployment, distributed sensing, and adaptability of wireless sensors have given them a big advantage over other methods. The constraints due to their inherent features make routing in wireless sensor networks a big challenge. This paper covers a number of routing protocols being used in the current systems. The stress is on energy aware routing where the network optimizes between efficient routing and maximizing life of the network.