An Aggregator Deployment Protocol for Energy Conservation in Wireless Sensor Networks

With the introduction of resource-rich mobile elements into wireless sensor networks, the energy-efficiency of such network can be enhanced. In this paper, we study the deployment problem of these mobile elements. A novel potential-field-based coordination protocol, named aggregator deployment protocol for energy conservation (ADPEC) for wireless sensor networks is proposed. The proposed protocol is aimed to move the mobile aggregators to the desired locations in a distributed and cooperative way, where the energy dissipation of individual sensor will be balanced and the energy efficiency of the network will be maximized. Our experiment results show that ADPEC improves the energy efficiency and prolongs the lifetime of network compared to static or random deployment protocols.