Traffic-Aware Reliability Enhanced Cluster Head Selection Based Routing for Heterogeneous WSNs

Abstract

One of the most important challenges for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is improving the lifespan of the network. This is tackled by the clustering technique that simplifies the routing in WSNs. The clustering strategy only takes into account a small number of nodes randomly selected as Cluster Heads (CHs). CH’s main task is to collect the sensed data from their member nodes, aggregate it and transmit it to the sink or Base Station (BS). Several clustering strategies are proposed to significantly increase energy efficiency and lifespan of the network. Among those, Reliability-based Enhanced Technique for Ordering of Preference by Similarity-Ideal-Solution (RE-TOPSIS) using fuzzy logic model promotes effective CHs selection and network lifespan with the consideration of five different criteria like remaining power, distance between neighboring nodes, distance between the sink and CHs, energy efficiency and availability of adjacent nodes. This algorithm is only appropriate for energy heterogeneity scenarios. Conversely, under multi-level traffic heterogeneities, routing is not successful due to the considered criteria. For WSNs with heterogeneity scenarios, considering traffic as well as energy heterogeneities is the most important to maximize the network’s lifespan. Hence, a Traffic-Aware RE-TOPSIS (TARE-TOPSIS) for an effective CH selection protocol is proposed in this article which considers the traffic of nodes along with their initial and residual power. This protocol provides the framework for selecting CH under multi-level traffic and energy heterogeneities. This considers the node’s initial energy, traffic load including five criteria in RE-TOPSIS to efficiently choose the CH during each cycle. At last, simulation outcomes exhibit that the proposed technique outperforms the RE-TOPSIS technique in terms of network lifespan, average energy consumption, throughput and Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR).