Energy-Efficient Routing Algorithm Based on Multiple Criteria Decision Making for Wireless Sensor Networks

To solve the problem of using a single routing method and insufficient dynamic adjustment ability in existing energy-efficient routing algorithms for wireless sensor networks, a novel routing algorithm is presented in this paper, which turns the selection of next hop into a multiple criteria decision making procedure. First of all, the concept of potential energy in classical physics is introduced to create a hybrid virtual potential field, then chaos genetic algorithm is adopted to optimize the weight of each potential field, so that the data packet is forwarded to the next hop driven by the joint force generated from the hybrid virtual field and finally reaches the sink. Simulation results show that, the proposed scheme performs better on the effectiveness as well as balance of nodes energy consumption and prolongs the network lifetime compared with the existing typical energy-efficient routing algorithms.