Power efficient communication protocols for data gathering on mobile sensor networks

A critical issue in wireless sensor networks is how to gather sensed information in an energy efficient way, since there is limited energy in a sensor node. Many protocols have been proposed for data gathering, or communication, between wireless sensor nodes. However, most of these protocols work on static wireless sensor networks. We provide clustering-based and time-driven protocols which minimize energy dissipation for data gathering in wireless mobile sensor networks where the sensor nodes are able to move. For example, the sensor nodes may be attached to moving objects for tracking. Our protocols consist of three major phases based on the LEACH (low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy) protocol: (1) cluster-head election; (2) organizing clusters; (3) message transmission. First, we consider node mobility when organizing clusters. Our protocols have a sensor node select the proper cluster-head to join in order to save energy. Then, we consider how to elect the cluster-heads and provide an algorithm for cluster-head election. Last, we implement all the protocols and perform experiments for evaluating the protocols. Simulation results show that our protocols are more energy-efficient and make the system lifetime 40-55% longer than LEACH.