An efficient energy hole alleviating algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Many consumer products in the home environment are managed by the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, the energy hole problem in the WSNs which with logical ring topology and uniformly distributed sensors is usually caused by the energy exhaustion of the sensors which distributed in the first radius range of the sink. This paper firstly analyzed the energy consumption model of the sensor, the data transmission model of the sensor, and the energy consumption distribution model of the WSNs. Then, a WSN Energy Hole Alleviating (WSNEHA) algorithm, which is based on the data forwarding and router selection strategy, is proposed. The WSNEHPA adopts the data forwarding and routing selection strategy to balance the energy consumption of the sensors in the first radius range of the sink. Experimental results demonstrate that WSNEHPA can efficiently balance the energy consumption of the sensors in the first radius range of the sink, and that the lifetime of the WSNs can be extended efficiently.