Efficient routing for energy harvest and quality of service in wireless sensor networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN), comprising:

• a plurality of sensor nodes, each configured with a radio transceiver and electronic circuitry for interfacing with one or more associated sensors;
• a gateway sensor node configured to receive sensor data from and forward instructions to the one or more sensor nodes;
• a server configured to control the WSN in combination with the gateway sensor node;
• and
• circuitry configured to
• process a route request message from an origination sensor node to a destination sensor node via a routing protocol that includes an Ad hoc On demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol, wherein a message packet of each of the plurality of sensor nodes includes a minimum energy field, a minimum energy harvesting rate field, and a sum of energy field;
• determine a new delivery route based upon comparing a minimum energy and a minimum energy harvesting rate of an instant sensor node with a minimum energy and a minimum energy harvesting rate contained in the message packet, and select a lower minimum energy and a lower minimum energy harvesting rate from the instant sensor node or the message packet;
• forward a route reply from the destination sensor node to the origination sensor node via the routing protocol when the new delivery route has been determined;
• broadcast the lower minimum energy and the lower minimum harvesting rate throughout the WSN;
• and
• continue the processing, determining, and broadcasting until the destination sensor node is reached.