Multiple Aggregator Multiple Chain routing protocol for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor nodes are deployed to gather useful information from the field but their constraint on battery power leads us to think about energy efficient routing protocols so that they can operate over longer periods of time. We study the advantages of having multiple chains in a network with each chain's topmost node (called the aggregator) collecting the data from the nodes beneath it and transmitting it to the sink. In the proposed scheme, a chain in each region works as PEGASIS. We also study how considering heterogeneity in the network can improve the lifetime of a network by a significant period. We assume that a fraction of the nodes in the network possess additional energy. We show by simulations that the introduction of heterogeneity into the network results in a greater lifetime, compared to those of the classical data aggregation schemes, with the duration increasing with the amount of additional energy considered.