A Cluster Head Assisted Routing (CHAR) Scheme For Improved Energy Load Balancing In Wireless Sensor Networks

This study presents a Cluster Head Assisted Routing (CHAR) scheme aimed at reducing the burden on Cluster Heads (CHs) while maintaining the hierarchical structure and its advantages. The Assisting Cluster Head (ACH) collates data within the cluster while the cluster head (CH) is left with the task of transmitting collated data towards the base station (BS). In this manner, the huge energy burden hitherto on the CH is reduced. An energy cost function is developed; which considers the residual energy of the nodes and the energy burden imposed on the cluster should any member is elected as a head. The node that best satisfies the two criteria is favored to be elected as the head. Simulations were carried out in MATLAB and in a test bed using ESP8266, conditioned with power supply unit, a voltage measuring circuit and a firmware, as the wireless sensor nodes. The results revealed an improvement in the energy consumption profile of the CHAR over non cluster head assisted routing. The CHAR scheme recorded a 12.9% improvement in round-count before First Node Death (FND). Other parameters compared are Last Node Death (LND), Residual energy per round and energy left unused at the end of the experiment