Sensor networks use densely distributed micro-sensors with low power communication capabilities to collect data from the area of interest. Queries are disseminated and data is collected at aggregation nodes for processing. In this paper, sensor networks are classified according to the response characteristics of the query they are formed to process. A novel multi-tier architecture, comprised of mobile aggregation nodes and static sensors, is used as the basis of analysis. A reverse multicast tree network is dynamically formed among an aggregation node and its associated sensors for response delivery. Traffic loads of query types are analyzed and some optimization methods are presented to reduce the message delivery rate of some types. Experimental results of implementation for TinyOS running mica sensor hardware are also given.

Proceedings of Int. Conf. APIS 2004, Istanbul, Turkey
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