Parameterized Affect of Transmission-Range on Lost of Network Connectivity (LNC) of Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks, referred to as WSNs, are made up of various types of sensor nodes. Recent developments in micro electro-mechanical technology have given rise to new integrated circuitry, microprocessor hardware and nano technology, wireless technology, and advanced networking routing protocols. Hospitals and health service facilities, the armed forces, and even residential customers represent a potential huge market for these devices. The problem is that existing sensor network nodes are incapable of providing the support needed to maximize usage of wireless technology. For this reason, there are many novel routing protocols for the wireless sensor networks proposed recently. One is Hierarchical or cluster-based routing. In this paper, we analyze three different types of hierarchical routing protocols: Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), Power-Efficient Gathering in Sensor Information Systems (PEGASIS), and Virtual Grid Architecture (VGA). We tried to analyze the performance of these protocols, including the power consumption and overall network performance. We also compared the routing protocol together. This comparison reveals the important features that need to be taken into consideration while designing and evaluating new routing protocols for sensor networks. The simulation results, using same limited sensing range value, show that PEGASIS outperforms all other protocols while LEACH has better performance than VGA. Furthermore, the paper investigates the power consumption for all protocols. On the average, VGA has the worst power consumption when the sensing range is limited, while VGA is the best when the sensing range is increased. Using homogeneous nodes can greatly prolong sensor network's life time. Also, The network lifetime increases as the number of clusters decreases KEYWORDS Energy consumption, network performance, Sensor networks, Routing protocols, LEACH, PEGASIS, VGA, Cluster head.