Enhancement of wireless sensor network lifetime with mobile base station using particle swarm optimization

In wireless sensor networks, energy utilization is often treated as the highest priority optimization goal due to the fact that the nodes in these networks rely heavily on battery powers which are typically irreplaceable. Hence, the protocols and algorithms used in this network should operate with minimum possible energy in order to improve overall energy efficiency. Utilizing mobile base station to collect data from sensor nodes in the field is one of the approaches that can be used to minimize the energy consumption of the sensor nodes. This is because the base station is usually equipped with high storage capacity and rechargeable battery supply. This paper proposed a method to optimize the movement of mobile base station in randomly distributed wireless sensor networks using particle swarm optimization (PSO) method for the purpose of prolonging network lifetime. Based on simulation results, it is demonstrated that the proposed technique can improve the network lifetime, data delivery and energy consumption when compared to existing energy-efficient protocols developed for this network