A preliminary study on lifetime maximization in clustered wireless sensor networks with energy harvesting nodes

Clustering is used extensively in wireless sensor networks to optimize lifetime. Within clustering, the optimization of cluster head (CH) location is critical since CHs consume energy faster and have greater influence on lifetime than non cluster head (NCH) sensors. Energy harvesting wireless sensor networks (EH-WSNs) use energy harvesting devices to harvest energy from environment. In contrast with the traditional battery powered wireless sensor networks, EH-WSNs have extended network lifetime substantially. In this paper, we present a single cluster algorithm for lifetime optimization in homogeneous wireless sensor networks with one solar powered sensor. The proposed method could determine the optimal CH location within a given network distribution. We include the solar powered sensor node as relay node for CH and determine the optimal position for it. We evaluate the performance of our method through theoretical analysis as well as simulation. We found through the use of our method, the overall network lifetime could be optimized.