We analyze push and pull for data collection in wireless sensor networks. Most applications to date use the traditional push approach, where nodes transmit sensed data immedi- ately to the sink. Using a pull approach, nodes store the data in their local flash memory, and only engage in commu- nication during dedicated collection phases. We show how one can transform an existing push-based collection protocol into a pull-based one, and compare the power consumption of both approaches on a 35-node testbed. Our results show that substantial energy gains are possible with pull, provided that the application can tolerate a long latency.
@article{arxiv.1103.5695,
title = {Poster Abstract: If You Have Time, Save Energy with Pull},
author = {David Hasenfratz and Andreas Meier and Matthias Woehrle and Marco Zimmerling and Lothar Thiele},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.5695},
year = {2011}
}