Energy efficient clustering and routing algorithm in wireless sensor networks
Creators: name: CHAN, Hiu Fai
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 400608
subject: Wireless communication systems and technologies (incl. microwave and millimetrewave)

description: The existing electrical power grid is undergoing a revolution and transformed as a smart grid. With the integration of electrical and communication infrastructure, the latest information technology is applicable for the existing electrical power grid. Smart grid is one of the application in Internet of Things (IoT). It can enhance the data exchange by full duplex communication, data acquisition, automatic metering infrastructure, renewable energy integration, distribution automation and complete monitoring and control of entire power grid.<br><br>

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are one of the key enabling technologies that powered the IoT evolution. WSNs provide the cells for data communications among different IoT applications. These wireless sensors act as the access points for IoT to enable energy-efficient and low costs connections of all the things. WSNs play a major role in data communications for applications such as home, health care, environmental monitoring, smart grids, transportation and many others. WSNs are used in IoT applications and should be secured and energy efficient in order to provide highly reliable data communications. Due to the constraints of energy, memory and computational power of the WSN nodes, clustering and routing algorithms are considered as powerful energy efficient approaches for resource-constrained WSNs. <br><br>

One objective of this Thesis is to be used as tutorial for the comparison of the most relevant baseline hierarchical routing protocols. Thus, we present a comprehensive study of various routing algorithms and their effects on the WSN performance. Additionally, we further discuss and analyze the cluster formation method, hierarchical structure, and leader selection criteria in a more comprehensive way. Furthermore, we consider and review the energy consumption by (i) the sending nodes and (ii) cluster heads separately. Based on our analysis, we provide justification for ranking the best state-of-the-art routing techniques according to the optimization metrics such as remaining energy, distance to base station, and density of nodes, etc. We further provide conclusions of the energy burden and limitations of different routing algorithms. <br><br>

Low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) is a traditional hierarchical protocol aiming to reduce the energy consumption in creating and forming a cluster. However, its random method to select cluster head leads to uneven distribution of cluster heads and high failure transmission rate. Thus, this Thesis also discusses and compares different parameters used in cluster formation for different enhanced LEACH versions in order to provide the factors to be considered in forming a cluster and routing. After discussing the main constraints and design considerations of routing protocols, this Thesis focuses on the design and implementation of multi-criteria energy efficient routing protocols. Particular attention is given to the cluster head selection, which is based on different criteria and parameters in order to reduce unnecessary redundancy while conserving the whole WSN energy resources. Thus, we describe in detail the routing protocol principle for saving and balancing energy in the whole WSN. For multi-hop routing, we adopt a flexible and adaptive approach. It is proposed to send data to the farthest next cluster head within the energy efficient distance. If there is no next cluster head available within the energy efficient distance, a temporary routing node can be selected for communication.<br><br>

We also discuss several security aspects to be considered in routing protocols. In order to probe the effectiveness of the proposed routing algorithm, we explain how the simulations of the proposed routing protocols implemented as well as scenarios and simulation parameters. <br><br>

In order to verify our results, we utilize the well-known open-source network simulator Omnet++. The characteristics and behaviours of sensor communications are well-defined in the simulation model which allows the simulations to operate similarly to a real situation. The performance of various hierarchical routing algorithms for WSNs are compared using different metrics. Our simulations show that the proposed clustering and routing algorithm can result in a higher successful data delivery rate while maintaining a lower energy consumption for cluster formation and data transmissions at the same time, which are suitable for the applications of WSNs in IoT. The results presented in this Thesis demonstrate that the choices made in the design of the proposed energy efficiency routing protocols improve the lifetime of the whole WSN, while keeping a simple implementation. The novelty of the contribution in this Thesis is the design of clustering and routing algorithms to balance the energy loading of all sensor nodes while maintaining high successful data transmission rate. This is achieved by developing smart and adaptive clustering and routing algorithms in WSN. The algorithms can also adapt to the changes of environments and be suitable for various scales of networks. Finally, we conclude this Thesis pointing out the most relevant challenges and future research trends of WSN.