Energy efficient protocol in wireless sensor networks using mobile base station

Abstract

Nowadays, wireless sensor networks have become an important field of study which requires a lot of attention due to its use in various applications. The most critical issue with a wireless sensor network is the network lifetime. This is because sensor nodes operate using dry cells which have a limited lifespan. Hence, an energy efficient protocol is needed in order to conserve the energy of the network as long as possible. One method to reduce energy consumption among sensor nodes is by using a mobile base station instead of a static base station. This approach enables the base station to roam the sensing field and collect data from sensor nodes through a shorter distance as the base station gets to move closer to the sensor node. Another approach is by using the clustering method in which the sensor network is separated into clusters and only the cluster head relays aggregated data to the base station. This approach would be a burden to the cluster head. Hence, the job of the cluster head should alternate among sensor nodes so that the energy load among all sensor nodes will be balanced as in the LEACH protocol. This project would like to propose an energy efficient protocol for a wireless sensor network using mobile base station and based on the clustering approach with role rotation. Through this project, the performance of the proposed protocol was evaluated and it has proven to be efficient in terms of energy consumption and network lifetime