Non-Homogeneous Cluster Head Selection for Energy-Aware Hierarchical Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), sensor nodes are equipped with a limited energy battery. Energy consumption is a very challenging field in WSN. In this paper, we modify the Low Energy Aware Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and the Extended LEACH (XLEACH) protocols to increase the lifetime of the network. The main difference of our protocol is based on non-homogenous probability of Cluster Head (CH) selection. We consider a virtual reference node in the protocol. Each node chooses its probability of CH selection properly so that its energy consumption would be close to the energy consumption of the reference node. Our simulation illustrate that the lifetime of the network increases considerably without increasing the complexity of the protocols. According to the simulations, this method makes energy consumption more efficient than the LEACH or XLEACH, and consequently prolongs the network lifetime. Moreover, the modification does not affect the delay in the protocols.