The applications of wireless sensor networks comprise a wide variety of scenarios. In most of them, the network is composed of a significant number of nodes deployed in an extensive area in which not all nodes are directly connected. Then, the data exchange is supported by multihop communications. Routing protocols are in charge of discovering and maintaining the routes in the network. However, the appropriateness of a particular routing protocol mainly depends on the capabilities of the nodes and on the application requirements. This paper presents a review of the main routing protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks. Additionally, the paper includes the efforts carried out by Spanish universities on developing optimization techniques in the area of routing protocols for wireless sensor networks.

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This paper presents a proposal for a balanced flooding protocol for mesh networks over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The primary goal is to save battery lifetime by converting nodes into a mesh network in a balanced mode and thus increasing the lifetime of the network. Based on an extension of the flooding protocol Trickle, the proposed protocol, Drypp, aims to balance the loads of the network nodes. Hence it seeks to make nodes with a higher load more active in the network in comparison to nodes with a lower load. A performance analysis will be executed, comparing the proposed protocol and Trickle. The metrics of node lifetime, network lifetime, throughput and node battery loads will be analyzed.

‘Smart cities’ is a concept that embraces many technologies and solutions in sensing and carrying a city’s data through a network for further processing and analysis. Smart cities’ main priority is citizens and environmental sustainability. In practice, wireless sensors networks over mesh networks are the approach employed most of the time. In terms of wireless communications technologies, Bluetooth low energy offers a robust, low cost, and low power consumption option. The recently published Bluetooth mesh profile specification addresses the most relevant challenges on that paradigm, adding secure multicast communications capabilities. A framework to create Smart Cities services was proposed and a traffic light service was used to demonstrate specification applicability for smart cities’ services. The proposed service showed that data may be collected and shared between devices in a mesh network through and over a metropolitan area. The specification’s strengths were demonstrated and some topics for further development were identified.