Self-Organizing Sensor Networks Doina Bein and Ajoy K. Datta School of Computer Science, University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV 89154 {siona,datta}@cs.unlv.edu Abstract. We propose a self-organizing protocol in a sensor network. The algorithm starting from an arbitrary state establishes a reliable communication (based on the directed diffusion strategy) in the network in finite number of steps. In directed diffusion protocol [1], a request for data from a an initiator is broadcast in the network, and the positive answers from the sensors are forwarded back to the initiator. Keywords: Directed diffusion, routing, self-organizing, self- stabilization, sensor networks 1 Introduction The process of sensing, data processing, and information communication is the basis of sensor networks ([2], [3]). Due to the large number of nodes and thus, the amount of overhead, the sensor nodes may not have any global identification (ID). In some cases, they may carry a global positioning system (GPS). Sensor nodes are equipped with a processor, but they have limited memory. They can carry out simple tasks and perform simple computations. The communication is wireless: radio, infrared, or optical media, and the chosen transmission medium must be available worldwide. Recent developments in wireless communications have produced low-power, low-cost, and multifunctional sensor nodes which can communicate with each other unhindered within small distances. The nodes in sensor networks are usually deployed for specific tasks: surveil- lance, reconnaissance, disaster relief operations, medical assistance, etc. Increas- ing computing and wireless communication capabilities will expand the role of the sensors from mere information dissemination to more demanding tasks as sensor fusion, classification, collaborative target tracking. They may be deployed in an hostile environment, inaccessible terrains, and through a cooperative effort, proper information has to be passed to a higher level. Their positions are not predetermined, i.e., the network can start in an arbitrary topology. Contributions. The goal of this paper is to design a self-organizing sensor net- work using self-stabilization. Both the sensors and the sensor network infras- tructure are prone to failures, insufficient power supply, high error rate, discon- nection, and little or no network support. Many protocols and algorithms have been proposed for traditional wireless ad-hoc networks, but they do not take into consideration frequent topology changes, sensors failures, and possible non- existent global ID. A distributed self-configuring and self-healing algorithm for M. Bubak et al. (Eds.): ICCS 2004, LNCS 3038, pp. 1233–1240, 2004. c  Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004