An Ant Colony Clustering Routing Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

On the basis of analyzing the Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), a clustering routing algorithm for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) based on ant colony algorithm (ACA) is proposed in this paper. We applied the ACA to inter-cluster routing mechanism and looked for the best path from cluster heads to base station. Thanks to the algorithm, the transmission of information, for the cluster heads node away from the base station (Sink), along the best path was achieved and the energy consuming of cluster heads node was decreased. Meanwhile, not only the node residual energy, but also the distance between the cluster heads was considered for the selection of cluster heads. It resulted in the more even distribution of cluster heads. Simulation result indicates that the new algorithm has a more than 30% increase in extension of network life compared with LEACH.