Patent ID: 8325628

Claim:
A method for creating a wireless sensor network of nodes, comprising: providing the wireless sensor network of the nodes, wherein each node includes a processor for communicating data across the wireless sensor network; determining all non-looping paths between each of a plurality of source nodes and a root node of the nodes; selecting a set of distinct, non-intersecting paths from the non-looping paths, wherein the set of distinct, non-intersecting paths includes a predetermined number of paths from each of the plurality of source nodes, and includes every source node; and annealing the set of distinct, non-intersecting paths by replacing at least one node of the set of distinct, non-intersecting paths with an unused node having a lower cost, wherein a unique identifier is assigned to each node, and determining all non-looping paths comprises: a) adding a corresponding unique identifier to a message and broadcasting the message a unit distance from a given source node, b) adding a corresponding unique identifier to the message at each of nodes within a unit distance of the given source node and rebroadcasting the message the unit distance, resulting in a plurality of messages, upon determining that the unique identifier of the respective node is not already in the message, and c) repeating step b) until every one of the plurality of messages is received by the root node.