Two energy-efficient cluster head selection techniques based on distance for wireless sensor networks

Energy efficiency in data collection and transmission is always a crucial factor in wireless sensor networks (WSN). Thus, minimizing energy dissipation and maximizing network life-time are key factors in the design of routing protocols for WSNs. In this paper, based on Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocols, we propose two new distance-based clustering routing protocols, which we call DB-LEACH and DBEA-LEACH. The first approach (distance-based) selects a cluster head node by considering geometric distance between the candidate nodes to the base station. To further improve DB-LEACH, DBEA-LEACH (distance-based energy-aware) additionally selects a cluster head not only based on distance, but also by examining residual energy of the node greater than the average residual energy level of nodes in the network. The simulation results show that our two proposed algorithm outperformed a traditional LEACH as well as its derivatives in terms of conserving energy such that prolonging network lifetime.