Traffic Heterogeneity Analysis in an Energy Heterogeneous WSN Routing Algorithm

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an important element of Internet of Things arena. Energy efficiency is the prime factor for attaining the long life of WSN systems, which are resource constrained especially in energy. During the WSN operations, the communication activities consume maximum energy share of the WSN nodes. As routing algorithms are associated with the communication activities of the network, the energy efficiency of the routing algorithms become a critical factor in WSNs. The early work in WSN routing considers the deployment of homogeneous nodes. In practical scenarios, the WSN nodes are not homogeneous in their configuration, capabilities and/or behavior. The heterogeneity of WSN nodes has been broadly classified into three major categories, viz. energy, computation, and link. The heterogeneity of traffic/data generation rate is another important aspect, which considers nodes with heterogeneous data transmission requirements. This paper considers traffic heterogeneity aspect along with the energy heterogeneity for improved routing decision in the WSN. The paper discusses how the performance of the system is affected under different heterogeneity scenarios. It considers a two-level energy and traffic heterogeneous scenario in a clustering-based WSN. It also proposes an improved method of cluster head selection for the given scenario. The work comes under multi-heterogeneity consideration in WSN routing algorithms, which is an important aspect for designing efficient routing algorithms for realistic WSNs.