Exploring Wireless Sensor Network Configurations for Prolonging Network Lifetime

In this paper, we propose to control the distances between the cluster heads, as well as the cluster sizes to extend the network lifetime in wireless sensor networks. To the authors ’ best knowledge, this is the first paper that uses unequal transmission distances between cluster heads to solve the “hot spot ” problem. More specifically, we take advantage of the fact that the transmission energy varies greatly as the transmission distance change. By using unequal transmission distance between cluster heads, as well as unequal cluster sizes, we are able to obtain sensor network configurations that significantly extend the network lifetime. Key words