An Energy Efficient Routing Protocol Based on Layers and Unequal Clusters in Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) have drawn tremendous attentions from all fields because of their wide application. Underwater wireless sensor networks are similar to terrestrial Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), however, due to different working environment and communication medium, UWSNs have many unique characteristics such as high bit error rate, long end-to-end delay and low bandwidth. These characteristics of UWSNs lead to many problems such as retransmission, high energy consumption and low reliability. To solve these problems, many routing protocols for UWSNs are proposed. In this paper, a localization-free routing protocol, named energy efficient routing protocol based on layers and unequal clusters (EERBLC) is proposed. EERBLC protocol consists of three phases: layer and unequal cluster formation, transmission routing, maintenance and update of clusters. In the first phase, the monitoring area under the water is divided into layers, the nodes in the same layer are clustered. For balancing energy of the whole network and avoiding the “hotspot” problem, a novel unequal clustering method based on layers for UWSNs is proposed, in which a new calculation method of unequal cluster size is presented. Meanwhile, a new cluster head selection mechanism based on energy balance and degree is given. In the transmission phase, EERBLC protocol proposes a novel next forwarder selection method based on the forwarding ratio and the residual energy. In the third phase, Intra and inter cluster updating method is presented. The simulation results show that the EERBLC can effectively balance the energy consumption, prolong the network lifetime, and increase the amount of data transmission compared with DBR and EEDBR protocols.

Energy-Efficient Clustering Multi-Hop Routing Protocol in a UWSN

“…In [ 10 ], a clustered-based routing protocol allows the sensors to form clusters according to their depth and energy. The localization-free routing protocol, which is called the energy-efficient routing protocol based on layers and unequal clusters (EERBLC), selects the routing path according to the link quality and residual energy.…”

“…The sink node is deployed at the center of the surface and equipped with both acoustic and radio frequency (RF) modems; the sink’s acoustic modems receive data from the underwater sensor nodes, and the RF modem transmits data to the base station on the shore. We assumed that our network scenario was similar to the networks in [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The underwater sensor nodes are mobile due to water currents with velocities of around 1–3 m/s; therefore, the topology changes rapidly.…”

“…Even though each protocol uses different metrics to select the cluster head, they mostly focus on the residual energy of the node and the distance between the node to the sink. To increase network reliability, some clustering protocols select an assisted node which can assume the role of the sink [ 9 , 12 , 18 ] or the control node [ 10 ]. The assisted node can receive data from the sensor node or control the network topology.…”

“…Network performance was compared using the MATLAB simulation tool. The simulation parameters were set up as in [ 10 , 12 ].…”

Effectual Clustering and Node Placement with Differential Evolution Particle Swarm Optimization using Markov Chain Clustering in FANET

“…In [19], Fang Zhu explained about localization-free routing protocol, termed EERBLC. This protocol attempts to resolve crisis of higher energy consumption, E2E delay, and error rate.…”