Abstract
Routing is the linchpin of the LLNs due to their scarcity of memory, energy and computing resources. Efforts have been made in the past, to optimize the individual components of the RPL namely optimization of Trickle algorithm, objective function, network topology, etc. E-Trickle is one of the successful methods. Similarly, the standard MRHOF, at times suffers from the bottleneck in the network due to long hops. This problem has been significantly addressed by the Sigma routing metrics. Our proposed work, E-Sigma routing, suggests a new routing metric that combines both, the Sigma routing and the E-Trickle. In this proposed work, efforts have been taken to improve and enhance RPL by (i) eliminating the short listen problem (ii) eliminating the long hop problem and (iii) use of a reliable routing method. This proposed E-Sigma routing suggests a new composite routing metric that combines both the Sigma routing and the E-Trickle. This new routing metric has been tested with Cooja simulator over Contiki OS, and the results are compared with the inbuilt objective functions OF0, MRHOF, Sigma, and E-Trickle. The proposed E-Sigma routing method not only solves the short listen and long hop problem but also gives better packet delivery ratio, energy consumption, network convergence time, control traffic overhead and network latency, compared with the rest.