A Cluster-Chain based Routing Protocol for Balancing Energy Consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks have recently emerged as an important computing platform. Energy conservation and maximization of network lifetime are commonly recognized as a key challenge in the design and implementation of wireless sensor networks. Clustering provides an effective method for prolonging the lifetime of a wireless sensor network. In this paper, we propose an Energy Efficient Cluster-Chain based Protocol (ECCP) for wireless sensor networks. The main goal of ECCP is to distribute the energy load among all sensor nodes to minimize the energy consumption and maximize the network lifetime of wireless sensor networks. ECCP organizes sensor nodes into clusters and constructs a chain among the sensor nodes within cluster so that each sensor node receives from a previous neighbor and transmits to a next neighbor. Furthermore, ECCP improves the data transmission mechanism from the cluster heads to the base station via constructing a chain among the cluster heads. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed protocol significantly outperforms LEACH, CBRP and PEGASIS in terms of network lifetime, stability period, instability period, energy savings, balancing energy consumption among sensor nodes and network throughput.