A Survey of Energy-Efficient Communication Protocols with QoS Guarantees in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Abstract

In recent years, wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) have emerged as a prominent technique for delivering multimedia information such as still images and videos. Being under the great spotlight of research communities, however, multimedia delivery over resourceconstraint WMSNs poses great challenges, especially in terms of energy efficiency and quality-ofservice (QoS) guarantees. In this paper, recent developments in techniques for designing highly energy-efficient and QoS-capable WMSNs are surveyed. We first study the unique characteristicsand the relevantly imposed requirements of WMSNs. For each requirement we also summarize their existing solutions. Then we review recent research efforts on energy-efficient and QoS-awarecommunication protocols, including MAC protocols, with a focus on their prioritization and service differentiation mechanisms and disjoint multipath routing protocols.

Keywords

• wireless multimedia sensor networks
• energy-efficiency
• wireless communication protocols
• multipath routing
• medium access control
• quality of service