Location-Based Routing Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey

Recently, location-based routings in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are attracting a lot of interest in the research community, especially because of its scalability. In location-based routing, the network size is scalable without increasing the signalling overhead as routing decisions are inherently localized. Here, each node is aware of its position in the network through some positioning device like GPS and uses this information in the routing mechanism. In this paper, we first discuss the basics of WSNs including the architecture of the network, energy consumption for the components of a typical sensor node, and draw a detailed picture of classification of location-based routing protocols. Then, we present a systematic and comprehensive taxonomy of location-based routing protocols, mostly for sensor networks. All the schemes are subsequently discussed in depth. Finally, we conclude the paper with some insights on potential research directions for location-based routing in WSNs.