An effective data fusion-based routing algorithm with time synchronization support for vehicular wireless sensor networks

In the field of vehicular wireless sensor networks-based structural health monitoring, the structural damage identification is achieved by two structural features, namely natural frequencies and mode shapes. The kind of data fusion-based routing algorithm in specific applications needs to meet time synchronization requirements and meet certain constraints, such as the single-hop communication between cluster head node and each node in cluster, the overlap between different clusters and so on. To meet the special constraints for data fusion-based routing algorithm in structural health monitoring, this paper proposed a new method based on an improved flooding time synchronization protocol, which is called time synchronization and enhanced greedy algorithm based on D(v) (TSDEGA) routing algorithm. The TSDEGA method can achieve the minimum connected cover by node’s own degree D(v), and it can also meet the structural health monitoring routing constraints. The simulation experiments show that TSDEGA has better energy resistance and longer network lifetime, and it is superior to the traditional greedy algorithms. The proposed algorithm can effectively eliminate interference of outliers and improve the accuracy in order to meet time synchronization requirements in structural health monitoring applications.