Energy-Efficient Distributed Leader Selection Algorithm for Energy-Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks

In the context of green communication and energy-efficiency in wireless communication, this paper investigates distributed estimation algorithms in an energy-constrained wireless sensor network and proposes an energy-efficient distributed leader selection algorithm. The existing state-of-the-art diffusion algorithm and the recently introduced distributed leader selection algorithm are investigated. To evaluate the energy consumption of the algorithms, their respective algorithmic complexity, and number of operations and information exchanges are derived and compared. The obtained values are used as a basis to estimate the execution time and energy consumption of the algorithms. We propose and introduce the energy-efficient distributed leader selection algorithm which retains the performance of the existing leader selection algorithm while reducing the complexity and energy consumption. For the simulations, the algorithms are mapped to widely used wireless sensor network hardware architectures (MSP430 and RSL10). The numerical results show that the proposed algorithm is able to decrease the energy consumption of the network by 32%–53% and can extend the network lifetime by 14%–46% as compared with the diffusion and the distributed leader selection algorithms.