Load balancing-based hierarchical routing algorithm for wireless multimedia sensor networks

Wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) have the characteristics of the limited resources, the variable channel capacity, the dynamic links and the high data redundancy, which poses the great challenges to the quality of service (QoS) routing of WMSNs. Addressing these challenges, a load balancing-based hierarchical routing algorithm for WMSNs (LBHR) is proposed. Firstly, the network is divided by a novel clustering algorithm. Then the inter-cluster routing is built by the improved ant colony optimization algorithm to find a primary path and some backup paths. And the intra-cluster routing is built by the minimum spanning tree algorithm. The theoretical analysis and simulation experiments demonstrate that the LBHR has better scalability, adaptability, load balancing, higher transmission success rate and lower end-to-end delay compared with other routing algorithms. Thus, the LBHR can effectively prolong the network lifetime and guarantee the QoS of data transmission.