An energy-efficient data gathering algorithm to prolong lifetime of wireless sensor networks

Nodes in most wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are powered by batteries with limited energy. Prolonging network lifetime and saving energy are two critical issues for WSNs. Some energy-saving routing algorithms like minimum spanning tree based ones can reduce total energy consumption of a WSN, but they place too heavy burden of forwarding data packets on several key nodes so that these nodes quickly drain out available battery energy, making network lifetime shortened. In this paper, a routing algorithm termed Energy-efficient Routing Algorithm to Prolong Lifetime (ERAPL) is proposed, which is able to dramatically prolong network lifetime while efficiently expends energy. In the ERAPL a data gathering sequence (DGS), used to avoid mutual transmission and loop transmission among nodes, is constructed, and each node proportionally transmits traffic to the links confined in the DGS. In addition, a mathematical programming model, in which minimal remaining energy of nodes and total energy consumption are included, is presented to optimize network lifetime. Moreover, genetic algorithms are used to find the optimal solution of the proposed programming problem. Further, simulation experiments are conducted to compare the ERAPL with some well-known routing algorithms and simulation results show the ERAPL outperforms them in terms of network lifetime. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.