The article focuses on design guidelines based on optimizing the ratio of operation cost of the routing task in the context of broadcasting, multicasting and sensor area coverage problems. Sensor networks consist of a large number of sensor nodes that work together using wireless communications with an asymmetric many-to-one data transfer model and they send their data to a specific node called the sink node or monitoring station, which collects the requested information. Ad hoc networks are visualized in conference, rescue and military scenarios where nodes act as personal communication devices. The bandwidth limitations of the wireless channel and the dynamic nature of ad hoc networks offer new challenges for routing protocols. When nodes are equipped with position information, each node is assumed to know the position of itself, its neighboring nodes and the destination. Additionally, local knowledge at each node includes the cost of each of its links to neighboring nodes. In sensor networks the destination is generally a sink whose position is flooded to all sensors prior to their reporting.