Virtual MIMO protocol based on clustering for wireless sensor network

The wireless nature of the medium combined with energy constraints pose big challenges on the design of energy efficient and reliable protocols for wireless sensor networks (WSN). In this paper, the virtual MIMO scheme is incorporated with the multi-hop networking for energy saving in wireless sensor network (WSN). An energy consumption model is developed to investigate the energy saving performance by incorporating the virtual MlMO scheme with the multi-hop networking. Then, an optimization model is developed to find the optimal number of virtual nodes and the optimal number of hops. Based on the model, a virtual MlMO protocol based on clustering is developed. Simulation results show that the protocol can save energy significantly.