MRBCH: A Multi-Path Routing Protocol Based on Credible Cluster Heads for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks are widely used for its flexibility, but they also suffer from problems like limited capacity, large node number and vulnerability to security threats. In this paper, we propose a multi-path routing protocol based on the credible cluster heads. The protocol chooses nodes with more energy remained as cluster heads at the cluster head choosing phase, and then authenticates them by the neighbor cluster heads. Using trust mechanisms it creates the credit value, and based on the credit value the multi-path cluster head routing can finally be found. The credit value is created and exchanged among the cluster heads only. Theoretical analysis combined with simulation results demonstrate that this protocol can save the resource, prolong the lifetime, and ensure the security and performance of the network.