Lifetime maximisation of wireless sensor networks with multiple sinks using multiple paths and variable communication range

Abstract

Maximising network lifetime in a wireless sensor network (WSN) used for maintaining crucial events and parameters is an important research area. In this paper, we define the lifetime of a network as the number of messages it can transfer to the sink node. We consider multiple sinks and propose three different variants of the algorithm to enhance the network lifetime in terms of number of messages successfully transmitted to any of the sinks. The first algorithm constructs tree with sink node as the root to every other node and the nodes choose the sink based on the shortest path. Sink shifting happens based on the predefined shift rate. In the second approach, we try to find an alternate path to reach the same sink before finally turning to another sink. In the third method, we increase the communication range in stages such that, it can avoid crucial nodes and reach the sink node by spending more energy. The performance comparison is done and shown that the network lifetime extended with the help of second and third approach by 8.75% and 33.42% than cluster based algorithm for sink selection (CASS). Alternate path with variable communication range has improved the network lifetime by 22.90% over alternate path approach.