An Energy-efficient routing Protocol Based on Hotspot-aware uneven clustering and Dynamic Path Selection

Clustering and multi-hop routing algorithm are the most widely used in hierarchical routing protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). In existing clustering and multi-hop routing algorithms, because cluster head (CH) is randomly selected and the nodes near the Base Station (BS) called `hotspot nodes´ are responsible for more data forwarding, both of which will lead to unbalance energy consumption in entire networks. This paper proposed an Energy-efficient routing Protocol Based on `Hotspot-aware´ uneven clustering and Dynamic Path Selection (PHADPS). In `hotspot´, this protocol increases the number of CH for forwarding data so it can balance the energy consumption between CHs in `hotspot´ and other regions. After completion of the clustering, each CH establish a route table and dynamically choose the next hop node from the route table when sending every single frame of data. Simulation has been done in NS2 and the results show that this protocol is able to cope with the unbalance `hotspot´ issue and can prolong the network lifetime obviously.