Load balancing approach for heterogeneous 2‐tiered wireless sensor networks

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of managing power consumption in a heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), composed of Sensor Nodes (SNs), Relay Nodes (RNs), and a Collector Node (CN). The aim is to extend the lifetime of RNs that actively participate in data routing. The proposed approach consists in creating, from the dense initial topology, several 2‐tiered subtopologies, linking the SNs to the CN, without having common RNs. The simultaneous exploitation of these subtopologies in the data routing from the SNs to the CN constitutes a load balancing solution for the considered WSN. Obtained simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in extending the lifetime of the RNs.