Clustering and multi-hop routing with power control in wireless sensor networks

Clustering routing protocols excel in several aspects of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This article proposes a clustering and multihop routing protocol (CMRP). In CMRP, a node independently makes its decision to compete for becoming a cluster head or join a cluster, according to its residual energy and average broadcast power of all its neighbors. To minimize the power consumption of the cluster head, CMRP sends the data in a power-aware multihop manner to the base station (BS) through a quasi-fixed route (QFR). In addition, CMRP presents a transmission power control algorithm with dynamic intercluster neighbor position estimation (DCNPE) to save energy. Simulation results show that the performance of CMRP is better than the hybrid, energy-efficient, distributed clustering approach (HEED). In the best case, CMRP increases the sensor network lifetime by 150.2%.