Improved cluster routing protocol for wireless sensor network through simplification

Wireless sensor networks(WSN) deploy a large number of sensor nodes in the monitoring region, collecting information which is sent to the target users by wireless means after simple treatment. As the wireless sensor nodes are usually deployed in inaccessible or high-risk areas and are in large numbers, replacing batteries becomes very difficult. The nodes are usually one-time battery-powered so there is a serious problem of energy constraint to the sensor network. The primary design goal of routing protocols is to efficiently use the energy of sensor nodes and prolong the survival time of the network. In this work the classical cluster routing protocol LEACH and improvement of LEACH(LEACH-E) are analyzed and improved (LEACH-EX). In LEACH-E energy depletion of nodes is balanced by two methods; first by considering the current energy of nodes when electing them as cluster heads, another is by limiting the number of nodes in each cluster. In LEACH-EX the threshold formula for election of cluster heads is simplified and simulation results show the effectiveness of the formula (LEACH-EX) and prove that LEACH-EX is much better than LEACH and LEACH-E in energy consumption and lifetime of network.