A novel data communication approach in wireless sensor networks

We propose a novel clustered routing approach with the separation of path findings from data transfer in wireless sensor networks. The proposed protocol differs the traditional clustered routing in the following aspects: global communication adopts multi-hop mode, cluster heads are only responsible for path findings, and data are transmitted by gateways. The principal advantage of the proposed routing is that energy consumption is reduced and balanced, and the network life is prolonged. This routing is applicable to large scale wireless sensor networks. Simulation results are presented to validate the proposed approach.