Energy Aware Nature inspired Routing for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

One of the most critical issues in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is energy consumption, because of the battery limitation in each sensor. Most energy is consumed on communication phase between the sensor nodes in WSNs, therefore, an accurate routing model is required for managing the communication in WSN. In this paper, a nature inspired flat routing for wireless sensor networks has been introduced with the aim of optimising the energy consumption by improving the routing process. Ant Colony Optimisation algorithm (ACO) has been adopted to facilitate the routing decisions which have to be taken by every node. Furthermore, ACO-based Flat Routing Protocol has been compared with two other algorithms, namely: Random Walk Algorithm and Energy Based Routing in addition to the traditional ACO used in routing. Experimental results have shown a promising improvement in energy consumption, system stability and better lifetime with ACO than the other algorithms. Also, the model has shown better transmission balance with ACO even with extreme scenarios of multi-hop flat routing.