An event-driven clustering routing algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are an area of emerging networking research. One obstacle is its limited supply of energy. Therefore, minimizing energy consumption and maximizing system lifetime have been a major design goal for WSNs. This paper presents an energy-efficient event-driven clustering routing algorithm (EDC algorithm) based on unique features of the event-driven data model of WSNs. The algorithm can decide which nodes would become cluster-head nodes according to the maximum remainder energy of nodes, which are sensing an event occurred and are firstly switched to the active state if their several components are in the sleeping state. This strategy can keep sensor nodes with lower remainder energy out of being used up quickly. Detailed simulations of sensor network environments demonstrate that EDC algorithm saves node energy, prolongs system lifetime, and improves evenness of dissipated network energy.