Energy Efficient and QoS Based Multi-path Hierarchical Routing Protocol in WSNs

In hierarchical networks, nodes are separated to play different roles such as CHs and cluster members. Each CH collects data from the cluster members within its cluster, aggregates the data and then transmits the data to the sink. Each algorithm that is used for packet routing in quality of service (QoS) based applications should be able to establish a tradeoffs between end to end delay parameter and energy consumption. Therefore, enabling QoS applications in sensor networks requires energy and QoS awareness in different layers of the protocol stack. We propose an Energy efficient and QoS based Multi-path Hierarchical Routing Protocol in wireless sensor networks namely EQMH. In this protocol, we try to satisfy the QoS requirements with the minimum energy via hierarchical methods. Our routing protocol performs cluster heads election and routes discovery using multiple criteria such as residual energy, remaining buffer size, signal-to-noise ratio and distance to sink. EQMH maximizes the network lifetime through data transmission across multiple paths as load balancing that causes energy consume uniformly throughout the network. Furthermore employs a queuing model to handle both real-time and non-real-time traffic. Simulation results show that our proposed protocol is more efficient than EAP and MCMP protocols in providing QoS requirements and minimizing energy consumption.