A Power Efficiency Routing Protocol for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

A major problem for many sensor network applications is determining the most efficient way of conserving the energy of the power source. Energy conservation is of prime importance for sensor networks. In this paper, a power saving hierarchical routing protocol PER is proposed for heterogeneous sensor network, optimized via cross-layer designs to save sensor´s power. There are two kinds of nodes in heterogeneous sensor networks: normal sensor and header node, the later one has more powerful battery and higher performance antenna. Sensors around a header node compose a cluster. We propose three methods to save sensor´s power. 1) a cluster creation algorithm is introduced for heterogeneous sensor networks. 2) a mathematics model of energy optimum relay tree (EOR-tree) is designed, which can guarantee the minimum energy cost forwarding and relay load balance. 3) We propose a solution for coverage holes, which may avoid congestion around the hole boundary, and give a long life to the sensors around holes. Simulations show that PER has higher packet delivery ratio, and lower total energy consumption than Directed Diffusion.