This paper presents a new cross-layer QoS routing algorithm for wireless sensor networks. Basing on the principle of cross-layer design, the algorithm adopts delay, nodes’ load and link quality as QoS metrics. The QoS routing metrics are regarded as heuristics correction factors in ant colony algorithm (ACA). The ants are divided into a number of different populations. Through the interaction of pheromone between multi populations, the routing algorithm searches for the feasible paths in parallel and updates the pheromone in time. To overcome the slow convergence of ant colony algorithm, membership cloud model (MCL) is used to control the randomness of the ants. The simulation results demonstrate that the routing algorithm can guarantee the real time, reliability and robustness of wireless sensor networks. It can also achieve the network load balancing.
A QoS Routing Algorithm Based on Ant Colony Optimization and Mobile Agent
