A survey on network lifetime maximization using data aggregation trees

Summary The sensor networks are the primary and essential components on which the world of Internet of Things (IoT) is built. IoT empowers smart communication, computation, and sensing capabilities. In sensor networks, the data are collected by the sensor nodes and sent to the sink along a communication path. These communication paths are collaboratively established by the nodes and the sink. By incorporating energy‐efficient data gathering techniques, the lifetime of these networks is improved. The major contribution of the study in this work is to provide a survey of various techniques for data aggregation (DA) and the employed algorithmic strategies that facilitate and influence network lifetime (NL) in these environments. DA in wireless sensor networks (WSN), IoTs, and cloud computing extend the lifetime of these networks since it enables efficient merging of traffic flows, thus reducing transmissions and energy consumption of devices. In sensor networks, data aggregation tree (DAT)‐based routing facilitates energy‐efficient routing that extends NL. NL maximization using DATs constructs DATs with optimal NL and is a known NP‐complete problem. Subsequently, the study in this work surveys the various approaches employed by researchers to construct DATs and discusses techniques for DAT scheduling. This work further explores various sensor deployment techniques and discusses real world scenario in which NL is influenced by uncertainty in communication links. Finally, the study in this survey highlights the achievements in realizing NL improvement using DAT and identifies the limitations and research challenges.