Cluster Head Assignment in Networks Controlled by Gateway Entities (CHANGE): Simulation Analysis of Protocol Performance

In recent years the amount of applications based on Wireless Sensor Networks has increased drastically. In this context, the number of devices used and their location varies depending on the context where the network is deployed. Extensive sensing and actuating in remote locations requires very efficient data distribution algorithms thus improving energy efficiency of devices and network lifetime as much as possible. The different optimization mechanisms developed so far do not consider the current degree of heterogeneity that coexists in current capillary networks. This work presents a routing protocol able of selecting the optimal traffic aggregation points in the network considering not only individual parameters of devices, but also the impact of each decision in the whole network. This proposal also offers room for customizable parameterization based on the requirements and conditions of the deployments. At the end of this paper the simulation tool developed for evaluating the performance of the routing algorithm is presented as well as the results obtained for four different scenarios.