Power control strategy for clustering wireless sensor networks based on multi-packet reception

For the requirements of energy saving in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), this study proposes a transmission power control strategy for cluster heads (CHs) based on multi-packet reception in clustering WSNs. First, this study proposes a new CHs selection algorithm for clustering WSNs. Second, transmission power levels of each CH are determined according to the number of CHs in monitoring area. Third, with restrictions of successive interference cancellation algorithm in sink, transmission power control strategy for CHs are determined by distance from CHs to sink and residual energy of CHs. For whole network, single-hop communication mode is designed to send data from sensor nodes to CHs, at the same time; it is also applied to send data from CHs to sink. Simulation results show that this power control strategy can reduce the energy consumption of sensor nodes and increase network throughput, which can greatly improve network lifetime. The authors believe that their findings will be useful guidelines for moving forward with successive interference cancellation research in WSNs.