ABSTRACT
Communication in wireless sensor network (WSN) is subject to various phenomena that characterize the communication by radio wave. Several routing protocols have been proposed for WSNs. This chapter examines the most common metrics used to measure the effectiveness of routing protocols. Routing protocols use the set of metrics to minimize energy consumption and the number of hops during routing. Routing protocols use the metric in order to minimize the number of data packets lost during the transfer from a source to a destination during routing. The network structure can play a significant role in the routing protocol operation in WSNs. Flooding and gossiping are some classical mechanisms to relay data in sensor networks without the need for any routing algorithms and topology maintenance. The Sensor Protocol for Information via Negotiation family of protocols incorporates several key innovations. Hybrid Routing Protocols consult the table routing for the nearest neighbours and use reactive methods beyond.
