EACHP: Energy Aware Clustering Hierarchy Protocol for Large Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) comprise a large number of small sensor nodes scattered across limited geographical areas. The nodes in such networks carry sources of limited and mainly unchangeable energy. Therefore, it is necessary that these networks operate under energy efficient protocols and structures. Energy efficient clustering algorithms have been developed to reduce the networks energy consumption and extend its lifetime. This paper presents an innovative cluster-based communication protocol for WSNs. In order to reduce communication overhead, the authors propose an Energy Aware Clustering Hierarchy Protocol that creates a multi-level hierarchical structure to adequately route and collect data in WSN. The paper also propose an efficient clustering protocol which selects the best cluster head (CH) available and considers criteria such as residual energy, lower communication costs, cluster density, and minimum distance between cluster heads, cluster members and base station in order to contribute to an extension of network lifetime. Through extensive simulations, we show that our proposed protocol consumes the lowest amount of energy during the clustering process, selects the right number of CHs, and completes the clustering process quickly, when compared to state-of-the-art clustering mechanisms in WSN.