Analysis of scalability for routing protocols in wireless sensor networks

Abstract The effectiveness of a wireless network relies on the underlying routing protocol. However the characteristics of protocols vary according to the application requirements similar to the quality of service parameters, mobility or scalability. In this paper we analyze the scalability issues of various routing protocols in context to wireless sensor networks (WSN). We present an extensive analysis of the major categories of protocols namely reactive, proactive and hybrid protocols, on various performance metrics that affect sensor networks in particular.