DefinePK

Abstract

Wireless sensor network consists of numerous sensors that are embedded with microprocessors and radio transceivers. These sensor nodes are deployed in a distributed fashion to sense the environmental conditions and this data is sent to a fixed Base Station (BS) of WSN. LEACH (Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy) protocol uses distributed algorithm to form the sensor clusters. The selection of Cluster Heads (CH) is random and these CHs send the aggregated data directly to the BS. When the network diameter increases beyond a certain level, the distance between the CHs and the BS also increases. This is the drawback of single-hop communication as it reduces the network life time and energy efficiency of sensor nodes. The paper proposes Radio signal Multi-hop protocol which elects the CH based on the residual energy of sensor nodes. A CH also acts as a Prime Cluster Head (PCH) when it is nearer to the BS and this distance is determined by the radio signal. In a multi-hop network, each PCH receives the aggregated data from its closest CHs which in turn sends this to the BS. The proposed protocol results in improved lifetime and energy efficiency of sensor nodes.