Abstract: Aggregation convergecast is an effective data collection pattern of wireless sensor networks. In order to collect sensor data fast, a shortest time aggregation convergecast scheduling problem was investigated. Following the structure of ideal optimal aggregation tree, a logarithmic aggregation tree construction algorithm was proposed for convergecast transmission link selection. For time slot allocation, a link effectiveness based algorithm was presented. In the algorithm, the effectiveness of a link was defined by the influence of the sender to its competitor nodes and time slot was preferentially allocated to those in-tree links with higher value of effectiveness, so as to increase the number of parallel transmission links. Experiments show that the proposed approach can reduce the data collection delay by more than 10% in most scenarios, which verifies the validity of the approach.

Key words: wireless sensor network, data collection, convergecast, aggregation scheduling