An Energy Efficient Routing Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

Since sensor nodes have limited energy, energy efficient routing is very important for wireless sensor network (WSN). In this paper we propose a routing scheme which significantly enhances the performance of existing schemes such as LEACH and IEACH-C. The proposed scheme selects the cluster head not randomly but considering the remaining energy when the energy level drops below 50% of the initial energy. For each node, the cluster head to join is determined by not only the signal power but also the remaining energy of the cluster head. Also, data transmission occurs when the context satisfies the preset condition. NS-2 simulation shows that the proposed scheme outperforms LEACH and LEACH-C by 37% and 30%, respectively, in terms of the lifetime of the sensor network.