A Proposed Double Cluster Head Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a collection of hundreds to thousands of compact, battery-operated sensors. They are developed to gather useful information from the nearby environment. Depending on the type of application, the sensors have to work for months to years with finite energy resources. In some extreme environments, the replacement of energy resources is challenging and sometimes not possible. Therefore, it is vital for sensors to perform their duties in an energy efficient way to improve the durability of the network. This thesis proposes an energy-efficient centralized cluster-based routing method. This routing method uses a two-level hierarchy of cluster heads to use the energy of sensors efficiently and to cut back the frequency of the cluster formation. The performance of this method is compared with that of the Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy Protocol (LEACH). The simulation results show that the proposed protocol outperforms that of its comparative by 15 percent in terms of network lifetime, 12.5 percent in overall energy consumption,and 15 percent in throughput and efficiency. iv