LPLL-LEACH: A study of a low-power and low-delay routing protocol based on LEACH

For a series of problems, such as uneven energy consumption and long packet forwarding time of a low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), an efficient routing protocol with low power and low latency based on LEACH (LPLL-LEACH) is proposed in this paper. In terms of energy, first, the optimal number of cluster heads (CHs) is calculated by quantitative analysis. Second, multiple factors are considered to redefine the threshold for electing CHs. In addition, ordinary nodes decide which cluster to join according to the cost function. Moreover, a forwarding function is utilized to determine the optimal next hop CH to forward the data. Last, the ordinary nodes are allowed to directly communicate with the base station (BS). In regard to latency, a hybrid mechanism of carrier sense multiple access and time division multiple access (CSMA_TDMA) is applied to minimize the time delay of data transmission. MATLAB is used to analyze the latency and energy of LPLL-LEACH and to compare it with LEACH, LEACH-C, ECH and EE-LEACH. The experimental results show that the time of all node deaths extended by 107%, 45%, 31.8%, and 8.8%. Similarly, the latency is greatly reduced, which improves the efficiency of data transmission.

Automated summary

This paper proposes an efficient routing protocol, LPLL-LEACH, to address problems such as uneven energy consumption and long packet forwarding time in LEACH. The protocol calculates the optimal number of cluster heads (CHs) and redefines the threshold for electing CHs. Ordinary nodes join clusters based on a cost function, and the optimal next hop CH is determined using a forwarding function. A hybrid mechanism of CSMA_TDMA is applied to minimize time delay. Experimental results show improved efficiency in terms of extended node lifetimes and reduced latency.